The colors of the Ukrainian flag surround the eye reflecting the capital city of Kyiv. This mural captures all the pain of this war in a single image.

by Dani Taylor Evans

A backpack.

A carry-on with wheels.

A child’s stroller.

These are the vessels that must hold what matters most.

{Pack for a week in a carry-on bag. It can be done. Fold and roll. Match and swap. Take the time to do it right.}

But for them, there is no time. And it’s not just a week. Quite possibly it is forever.

Choose quickly while strikes draw nearer.

Stop shaking.

Don’t think.

Just grab what matters most.

My heart aches for these people, these families very much like my own. Seeing the smoking rubble that was still home when they fled. Seeing them holding children, a pet, and a small bag. Seeing their eyes wide, searching the horizon for the safe place, for the helpers.

I pray for every one of them to find the helpers.

Among the smoking rubble, their lives’ details have become part of the debris.

• Their photos and videos. Wedding days and grandpa’s robust laughter.
• Their legal documents. Birth certificates and passports.
• Their family recipes. Titka’s Paska. Grandma’s Borscht.
• Their photobooks and cameras. Holding locks of hair and the most perfect picture of a rainbow.
• Their computers. With documents and photos revealing a life.

These things are gone for them. No doubt the oral tradition will bring them to life. Some will manage to illustrate the memories. The human mind is powerful. It will gather the stories, the images, the words.

I have faith that this is true.

And yet, I want to help every person who will allow me the honor, to protect their stories from becoming debris. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We do not know if that’s the day we will draw our last breath. We do not know if tomorrow is the day our hard drive will stop churning. Sadly, we don’t even know if tomorrow is the day that our world will be shaken by an attack on our homes.

The preservation of story will conquer the dictator. None has ever succeeded in eliminating memory or diminishing the power of the pen. To preserve, to document, to protect and share – that is my mission, a sacred mission.

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