A Ukrainian child sheltering in a bunker has received attention from Broadway star Idina Menzel and ITV’s Holly Willoughby after a video of her singing Let It Go went viral on social media. The young girl, believed to be called Amelia, was captured singing the hit from the Disney film Frozen in her native tongue from an underground bunker in the capital Kyiv, as people gathered around to watch. The video, posted to Facebook by user Marta Smekhova, has garnered more than 86,000 likes and been watched 3.6 million times since it was posted to the platform on Thursday. Menzel, who voiced the lead role of Elsa in Disney’s 2013 musical, showed her support for Amelia to her more than 680,000 followers on Twitter. The star reposted the video with yellow and a blue heart emojis and wrote: “We see you. We really, really see you.” Alongside the original video posted on Facebook, Ms Smekhova wrote that she had spoken to the little girl after spotting her drawing “bright pictures” in the dim light of the shelter. Translated from Ukrainian to English by Google, her post reads: “She told (me) that in addition to drawing she loves to sing… and whispered her dream that she wants to sing on the big stage in front of an audience. “I said do you see how many people are here? Here for them you will sing.” Ms Smekhova wrote that she was initially worried that no-one would be able to hear Amelia’s singing, but continued: “From the first word there was complete silence in the bomb shelter.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   .   .
LISTEN AGAIN
LISTEN PAST THE WORDS
LISTEN PAST THE FAMILIAR TUNE
and hear.          .           .
I don’t speak and certainly don’t sing Ukrainian
but I knew the song from the melody
and isn’t that a great definition of
F     A     I     T     H :
NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTANDING THE WORDS
BUT KNOWING THE MELODY
.         .          .there is much in this World
that makes me question
or worse,
D  O  U  B  T
but hearing that little girl’s voice
gives a little bit of boost of faith in humanity
and how it continues to excel in the
face of evil.        .         .
FOR TODAY
maybe that little girl’s voice
is the only bit of faith
we need right now.          .          .
LET IT GO

S T R A N G E
how walking down
ROAD
can quickly take you down
a n o t h e r
. . .when I first saw this video and heard the song
by Bruno Major
and read the lyrics:
Sunlight dances off the leaves,
Birds of red, colour the trees,
Flowers filled with buzzing bees,
In places we won’t walk.
Neon lights shine bold and bright,
Buildings grow at dizzying heights,
People come alive at night,
In places we won’t walk.
Children cry and laugh and play,
Slowly hair will turn to grey,
We will smile to end each day,
In places we won’t walk.
Family look on in awe,
Petals decorate the floor
Waves gently stroke the shore
In places we won’t walk
Children cry and laugh and play,
Slowly hair will turn to grey,
We will smile to end each day,
In places we won’t walk.
. . .Well, they took me quickly to
Robert Frost’s timeless lines:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Which took me down the Road
to this immortal question:
DO YOU HAVE ANY REGRETS?
(or phrased differently)
DO YOU HAVE ANY DO-OVERS?

What would you change?
What would you tweak?
What would you speed up?
What would you postpone?
What page of the book of your life would you rip out?
What paragraph would you delete?
What words would you change?

Could the
A N S W E R
actually be
N O N E. . .
Could you ever dare believe
that each
mistake
regret
terrible decision
mishap
tragedy
flaw
foible
wrong road taken
was actually
THE RIGHT ONE
after all. . .
not because
ALL ROADS
lead to the
SAME PLACE
but always to the
SAME CONCLUSION:
Each
the good and the bad
the right and the wrong
the horrible and the happy
not only gave us another thread
to our Tapestry
but also another piece
to our Puzzle
BOTH
not only further
COMPLETING US
but also
IMPROVING US
along
THE WAY
(our own individual way)
by showing us
what felt like didn’t work
. . .D I D
all on
(ESPECIALLY ON)
THE ROADS WE WON’T WALK
(but have, just the same)

C O M P A S S I O N
never leaves with clean hands. . .
and the only time
OUT OF THE BOX
isn’t so great
is when it’s a
s a n d b o x
. . .just how much sand
is still in your sandbox
or has it all
l i t e r a l l y
been thrown away. . . ?

THE WORLD
is upside down
and off its axis
seemingly with no hope of
r i g h t i n g
itself
everyone seems to be grabbing for anything
that even remotely looks like
T H E I R S
(especially opinions)

JUST WEARING A MASK
(or not)
will get you labeled
and that’ll negate you
in blink-of-the-eye-quickness. . .
CASE IN POINT:
(from two acquaintances in a Facebook Discussion)
(ROB WROTE):
This shouldn’t be a political post, but offending people appears almost as easy as blinking these days and seems to happen with a near similar frequency. 
Today I met with my neurologist via zoom. We discussed the current condition of my health and the reality that heat is a destructive force in my life. Overheating complicates my already fragile central nervous system and causes frequent pseudo exacerbations and tailspins that are difficult to describe. I won’t bore you with the details, but the Dr. told me that I can’t risk going out and being near people who aren’t wearing masks in these ongoing days of Covid. If I were to get a fever, it would be “very, very bad” for me, let’s just leave it at that. 
Now I don’t know each of your views pertaining to mask wearing and, honestly, I marvel at its political ties, though I know that I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m just trying to send a reminder that some of us aren’t in a position to ponder the political angles, we are just trying to keep our heads above water and would like to not be permanently confined to our homes, where it sometimes ironically seems that we might drown for lack of oxygen. 
I encourage you to think of adorning a mask as if it were an empathy enhancer, regardless of any other benefits it may or may not have. 
Stay healthy, friends. One day we will hug again 
(WENDY REPLIED):
I think what is interesting about this conversation is that your highly trained doctor says to wear one, but my highly trained doctor says not too. It is what makes this part of the mask conversation so hard. I too, am considered extremely immune compromised but my doctor does not believe they protect us and in fact believes they are harming us more and providing an environment for more virus to grow. I work as an essential employee, have not been sick, wear mask in limited capacity and have stayed healthy.   Many doctors believe that this is why we are seeing virus transmission go up in areas that are mandating it. Also on the flip side of this, my mother, who is asthmatic and my uncle who has COPD, cant wear them without getting deathly sick.  It is a unique conversation to each individual, their unique situation and their health care providers feelings on it.  It should not be mandated by any government entity for that reason. I respect what your doctor is telling you for you, but it can’t be something that is mandated for everyone. We do not know each person’s unique situation which why judgement to wear or not wear should be something we as individuals should  not be passing and should be an individuals decision to do or not to do based on these specific factors.  What could save your life, might take my mom’s life.  This is a very real thing we need to see in the true light for what it is.  It does mean that many people like you can’t be out in the general population right now, but it should not mean everyone has to wear a mask because of that. If you wear one and stay socially distant, you will stay safe. I am sorry that the health factors make life more difficult for you during this time
(ROB REPLIED)
Wendy – Thanks for a thoughtful reply. I am of the opinion that some of your examples are the exception to the rule, but none the less, thanks for addressing the argument rather than attacking the individual. Tip of the cap to you.

Playing in the sandbox without getting
G R I T T Y
is not just possible or plausible
but actually
providential

​Sand in the box
is never the problem
It’s always the sand
the seemingly unremovable sand
on the hands
between the toes
in the shorts
in the eyes
that causes the
not-so-nice-play
in the sandbox 
GRIT
has its place(S)
but purposely
recklessly
deliberately
in the eyes
is never one of them
Sand in the box
is never the problem
as much as 
s a n d
out of the box

We are way past the time
of playing nice
. . .it’s now time
to just
BE NICE
(ALWAYS)
(ALL-WAYS)