MakeBeliefs 2 Help U Smile & Lift Your Spirits:
What If You Saw the World in Different Colors?
Here’s the latest installment in our new Make Beliefs Series, ''MakeBeliefs 2 Help U Smile & Feel J_Y.'' They are created to provide comfort and hope to young and old who are feeling distressed and anxious in our too fast-changing and sometimes unforgiving world. It’s our way of making things better!
What if we woke up one morning, and all the things we were used to seeing were suddenly rendered in different colors? Snow, once always white, now floated down in multicolors; rain now leaves puddles of purple and orange. Or your little pooch is now chartreuse, your kitten a bright pink. With this unexpected change in colors, everything looks different. Would snow feel or taste the same if it were made of many colored flakes, rather than just white? Would your little dog’s personality be different if it were a new color?
Do you think this would be fun for you, or would it be frightening and dislocating?
Remember back to another time when you used crayons in coloring books and you made the sky purple, rather than blue, a face red instead of white or brown. That was fun, too, wasn’t it? It was interesting to see things in a different light. Similarly, why can’t we change things, like colors, in our imagination? Click the image above to fill out online or here to print out!
Time to Celebrate the Important People in Your Life
This illustration is from one of my new free e-books, ‘’The Tree of Life: A Testament,’’ and speaks about all the important people and things in my life. I wrote it while I was being treated for cancer and suffering from the harsh side effects of chemotherapy. I needed strongly to assert what was important in my life as well as affirm my love of life – it was my way of finding hope. It helped me get through a tough time, and, maybe, it will be that way for you, too, or for someone you love.
You can fill in the names of people important to you in the blank circles in the tree’s branches if you print the illustration. Or, you can fill them in directly on the screen from your digital device by downloading this free e-book at: https://makebeliefscomix.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tree-of-Life_Final.pdf ; scroll down to page 8 of the e-book. I hope after reading the book you will have a deeper appreciation of your own life and all the special things you love in this precious world.
Two Faces of the War in Ukraine – Can We Truly Understand What These People Are Going Through?
One is of an elderly civilian in Severodonetsk Ukraine who has endured frequent shelling of the eastern city as fighting rages at the nearby front line. She appears overwhelmed by what is going on and awaits what is ahead for her, with all the dislocation that war entails. You look at her and your heart goes out, and you wonder what will happen to her. Will she be safe? Will she be able to return to her home? Will she be alone for the rest of her life? Will she be able to overcome the trauma of war.
Now look at the other photo: a 21-year-old Russian soldier, Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, who was captured by the Ukrainians was put on trial for allegedly murdering a 62 year-old Ukrainian civilian in February. He has pleaded guilty, apologized for what he did, and asked the widow of the slain man for forgiveness. On Monday he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. A government attorney said the sergeant was part of a group of five soldiers who had fled a nearby battle in a stolen car. Shishimarin said that at first he resisted shooting but then did so because he was threatened by other soldiers to shoot because the man was talking on his phone and they feared he would report their location. International law prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians.
You ask yourself whether this young soldier can ever be forgiven for what he has done, and it does seem hard to find forgiveness. But then you look again at the photo of this slight young man – he looks like a frightened boy, gaunt, malnourished and diminished. He seems to realize the terrible thing he has done. He could be any young man you,might know who is sent to war without adequate preparation and with not much experience in life or at war. Did he have the confidence, the sense of right and wrong, to say no, or was there no choice for him? Did he fear being court-martialed or even executed for disobeying orders to shoot the civilian? What does he really know about making decisions with so little experience behind him?
Think of the wasted lives – that of the man who was killed and that of the soldier himself now sentenced to spending the rest of his life in prison -- denied all the richness that that a human being can experience in life. War is such a waste, no? Think of the woman who is now deprived of all that she once knew and owned.
War turns lives upside down. Did the elderly woman ever expect to have to leave her home at this stage in her life? Did the young man ever anticipate he would do something so horrific and brutal to another human being who had done him no harm?
Is there anything to be learned from this? What do you see in the photos? What would you say to these two people if you met them? What if you had been one of them? Click the button below to share your valuable thoughts.
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