PTSD
When I was young, I was used to hearing the chimes of church bells coming from the center of our little valley.
I woke up to a sight of pine-green hills, to the chirping of swallows, nesting and calling for the warmth of a nearby summer.
Then, one morning, I woke up to our bells again. At the third chime, a new sound materialized in the air: a siren, which I only had heard of in movies and books.
I remember the confusion of my mind, not being able to correlate the sound I heard with reality.
Moments later, the last sight I remember: the cerulean morning sky was greeting me, through a hole in the roof of our house.
I can no longer live near a church, in a tiny mountain valley. Chimes make me wake up trembling, sweaty, with the heart trying to escape my body.
Panic.
Commentary
This piece comes in a difficult moment for the world.
A war is raging between Ukraine and a foreign invader, Russia, unrooting people from their hometowns and disrupting millions of lives.
The chimes and sounds used in this video originate directly from the Ukrainian city of Kyiv, which is under constant threat of air bombing, disaster, terror.
War should not be a thought to worry about in these modern days. We should be progressing as humans, united, towards a peaceful and scientific future.
In these dark days, only one cry should be shouted in the sky:
Слава Україні! Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine!