(blog)

“Home is where the heart is.”
– Pliny The Elder

“Yes, it is very pleasing and peaceful here. We are warm, we have food and housing, we are helped and supported. We have nothing to complain about, thank God. But how much I want to go home!” a migrant woman told me yesterday. Her little son, hearing the word “home” told her, “Mom, I want to go home too. Don`t they shoot there anymore?” We didn’t know how to explain to him that it was still dangerous to return home…

There are many migrants from hot spots in our region. They came here from the hell of war, with only a few bags in which they stuffed their whole lives. Can you imagine what it’s like to live and work and then leave everything with only a small backpack? They fled their homeland but left their hearts at home. Because the human heart always wants to be where a person grew, lived, loved and was happy…

People are somewhat like storks. Storks always leave their homeland with regret, and as soon as spring begins, they leave warm countries and fly here. Although the springs are cold and the road home is long and difficult, they still return to the places where their hearts feel happiness. Similarly, a person who has left his or her home wants to come back there…

People don’t just want to return home. They want to return to happiness. Great analogy “home = happiness”, right? We are very attached to the places with which we associate warm memories. And we will always want to go back there. That’s why I understand people who say with tears, “We want to go home.” Yes, they are well aware that the danger has not disappeared. The withdrawal of troops does not mean the end of the war. They know all this, but their hearts ache… because they want to go home…

I pray that the time will come, and all the news will say, “Ukrainians, come home! It’s safe there now.”