Don't know whether this makes me happy or sad

I read the other day that American interest in what's going on in Ukraine is waning. Too much else to focus on: the price of gas, the lack of baby formula, Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard.

Sure, Zelensky was captivating - for a while. But we have our own leaders to focus on. Look, over here: What is it that Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying about Bill Gates and monkeypox? Then there's madman Peter Navarro who wants to see Anthony Fauci in prison... 

Ukraine? It's over there. It's too hard. And Rand Paul says...

But the war in Ukraine is still raging and it seems that the news is always two step forward/one step back, or one step forward/two steps back. My money's on Ukraine, but you never know...

At any rate, there was a story in the Washington Post the other day about a little side note on the war. It was a feel good story, but I don't know whether it makes me happy or sad.

By vocation, Ivanka Siolkowsky is a professional organizer/declutterer. A follower of Marie Kondo - she of the neatly folded tee-shirts - Siolkowsky runs a company called The Tidy Moose, where she writes, consults, and coaches folks on making their lives neater by getting organized. Before she was an organizer, she was an elementary school teacher, which I'm guessing is excellent training for becoming an organizer. 

Siolkowsky has Ukrainian roots, and she decided to head over to her ancestral land to do help out, which she did by way of Poland, where she volunteered with refugees before going into Ukraine. 

In Bucha, which has been the scene of wanton butchery at the hands of the Russian invaders, she met a man who's son had been killed, his home destroyed. 

“There is no joy left for me in this town,” the man, known as Sasha, told her, she recalled...

Even though Russian troops are no longer occupying Bucha, where brutal scenes of civilian massacres were uncovered, Sasha told the Canadian-born Siolkowsky that the streets of his cherished neighborhood no longer felt the same. “The bullet holes in my fence remind me of all that I’ve lost,” he said, according to Siolkowsky. (Source: Washington Post)

Siolkowsky, who - in addition to her teaching and organizing credentials - has a degree in visual arts, decided to paint over the bullet holes.

After completing her work on Sasha's fence, she was asked by neighbors to do the same for their bullet-riddled fences, which she did, sometimes assisted by a little 4-year-old helper, Anya. 

Together they painted long-stemmed daffodils and daisies, red poppies and humble forget-me-nots. There were also bright yellow sunflowers — the national flower of Ukraine — that have become a global symbol of resistance and hope since Russian troops invaded in late February.

Initially worried that the people of Ukraine would be offended, or find her work trivializing, Siolkowsky found that it was well-received. It brought, as she had hoped, "some semblance of joy back into this town."

Her hope is that Ukrainians will take up the practice, and that folks in towns that had been occupied will paint over their bullet holes with flowers. She has seen it happen it a few other places already. 

I'm happy that there are people like Ivanka Siolkowsky trying to make life a tiny bit more bearable for those who have experienced such great horror, who have lost so much.

I'm happy that she was able to put a smile on the face of little Anya.

But I really don't know whether this all makes me happy or sad.

What it does is bring to mind a poster that was popular during the Vietnam War. I'm pretty sure I had one up on a dorm wall at one point or another. 

And it also brings to mind a popular song of the era, Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", most notably covered by Peter, Paul, and Mary. (Did I hear them sing this at the 1969 Washington DC Moratorium? With Pete? I know they sang something. John Lennon was there, too, as I recall. "All we are saying, is give peace a chance.")

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

You know the lyrics as well as I do. The young girls went to young men, the young men were gone to soldiers, then to graveyards which went to flowers, which were picked by young girls... 

And, no, nobody ever seems to learn anything. Human condition, I guess. 

There's so many distractions out there, and many of them are important to pay attention to. The overturn of Roe v. Wade. The dismantling of our democracy. Never ending covid. Retirement accounts croaked by the market. Racist murders in Buffalo. 

But we can't lose sight of Ukraine, and I thank Ivanka Siolkowsky, and her little friend Anya, for reminding us of that.