“Love her in love, in labour, and in fight, As if she were a song at heaven’s portal… Love her with all your heart and all your might, And with her glory we shall be immortal.” – From the poem Love Ukraine by Volodymyr Sosiura (1944)
My mother was my stronghold, my everything. I was 20 when the war broke out. My brothers were 12 and 17. We all could have left the country but my father was obliged to stay. My mother wouldn’t leave his side. She packed up for me and my two brothers to save our lives and sent us to stay with friends in the Western part of Hungary. Days pass and we cannot communicate and when they finally call, I want to be with them. We fear for their lives each day.
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent van Gogh
“Sometimes you feel like your wings are tied before you could learn to fly. You come from a disadvantaged background and your opportunities are few. You might not have the chance to go to school like your brothers do. You are encouraged to do housework but not to read and write. You learn that you should marry to secure your future but your heart awakens and you want to fly. You are sensitive and that is the strength of your character. You look to the future and are not bound by opportunistic tendencies. You stand your ground, even if noone else […]
“On my first day at my new workplace, the town’s only old people’s home. The head nurse introduced me to her team of staff and explained to me the daily routine. The home had about 100 inhabitants. Some of them I had known from my childhood, grandparents of my childhood friends. Others were friends or neighbours of my own grannies, who lost their spouses and were left alone in their older years. One day, I invited my grandmother for a visit. She was very hesitant and worried about her own feelings first. But coming to meet her friends turned out to be […]
“I lived in Paris at the time and on Wednesdays we would have weekly meetings for a circle of women. We would excitedly talk about the suffragette movement and how to improve the status of women. One day, an American lady, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, stopped in town, on her way to the Holy Land. She told us she was about to travel to Akka in Palestine to learn more about unity and the equality of men and women. She wanted to meet the Head of the Baha’i faith there. It was 1904 and I had never heard about this […]
She was a queen. Maybe not in the literal sense of the word but she was an example of uprightness, of honesty and dignity. She worked at a library and led many groups of children to discover the love of literature and the beauty of the arts. I can thank her for that as well. And she would hold talks on love. I remember visiting the library with our class and listening to her read to us from a beautiful book of quotations she had compiled on Love: “Love is heaven’s kindly light, the Holy Spirit’s eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul.” […]
“We met early in the morning. Jimmy’s mom was at the hospital and we were going to visit it. It felt as if we were going to visit our own mothers. We grew up together and after school each day we would have our afternoon snacks at Jimmy’s place. His mom made the most delicious challah bread and apricot jam. At home, I still have the book I got from Aunt Claire when we were kids. She wrote the following quote in the book: ‘Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love […]
“I grew up in a small town but my aunt promised me that when I turn 16, she would take me to the Opera in Budapest. I couldn’t wait! Aunt Lili was a seamstress and she would get orders from Budapest as well. She knew the latest fashion trends and her studio was a paradise filled with beautiful fabrics. For my 16th birthday, she made this lovely black velvet dress for me to wear at the Opera. My grandson later made this photo of me on his computer and now this lovely dress is waiting for my sweet granddaughter to turn 16 too.”
“I grew up in a small town but my aunt promised me that when I turn 16, she would take me to the Opera in Budapest. I couldn’t wait! Aunt Lili was a seamstress and she would get orders from Budapest as well. She knew the latest fashion trends and her studio was a paradise filled with beautiful fabrics. For my 16th birthday, she made this lovely black velvet dress for me to wear at the Opera. My grandson later made this photo of me on his computer and now this lovely dress is waiting for my sweet granddaughter to turn 16 too.”
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