We planted this metal sunflower just beside our front stoop. It’s our little family symbol of solidarity with the Ukrainian people as they continue to stand against a brutal, unjust war.
This morning, after dropping off my free, safe, healthy 8 year-old at her elementary school, I was listening to our local NPR station, WNCW88.7. The hosts interviewed two correspondents on the ground in the Ukraine who reported on the Ukrainian people’s dogged resistance: one said they were “fighting like terriers,” that neither Russia nor the rest of the world expected their resolve, that the Ukrainians have had years of experience battling Russian aggression on their eastern borders.
This is our world, in real time. Helping feels an impossible task in the face of such large-scale destruction. So we pray, we give, and we vote. By God, we vote: for leaders who recognize just how small, precious, and fragile our world is–and how human connections, through diplomacy, aide, and other actions, are everything.
Everything.
This sunflower is a reminder for me, more than anything, or anyone, else.
Here are a few places where your time and money will will matter:
Save a Child Global Paediatric Network
Global Giving Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund
(The first two organizations were shared with me by my friend and fellow writer, John Malik, who has been volunteering with the World Central Kitchen at the Poland-Ukraine border. John has been writing about his experiences at his blog, here.)