A Poem of Hope for the Survival of Democracy - January 6, 2023
Every year we send out handmade Christmas and Happy New Year cards to our friends and family. Each has artwork and a poem. We would like to share this year's card with everyone. The poem is "One More Young Seed of Freedom."

This year, due to the ominpresent war in Europe that is essentially a battle of of authoritarinism versus democracy, we chose a rather somber topic: The plight of Ukraine. If Ukraine loses this war, not only is democracy doomed, but so is humanity as a whole.
The most important problem of our time is the backsliding of democracy to authoritarinism. If this problem is not solved, humanity will find it impossible to solve many large-scale common good problems, including climate change. This is because authoritarians (such as the leaders of Russia and China) care only about themselves and the group allowing them to stay in power, which excludes caring about common good problems.
The poem uses the words "viligance" and "vigilant" to refer to a popular saying: "The price of democracy (or liberty) is eternal vigilance." This is commonly attributed to Thomas Jefferson, author of the US Declaration of Indepence in 1776. However, scholars have been unable to find the quote (or something close to it) in his writings (source1, source2). Still, it's a wonderful principle to live by.
The folk art style of Petrykivka painting
The style of painting is known as Petrykivka. Beginning in the 18th century in Petrykivka, Ukraine, people began painting murals on white washed interior walls and around exterior doors and windows. The folk-art spread, and now includes fine art paintings, painted boxes, eggs, wood plates, vases, textiles, and so on.
Traditional Petrykivka painting uses only three brush strokes (some say more). Grass strokes are slender lines of varying width. Droplet strokes look like rain drops. Grass and droplet strokes are done with cat-hair brushes.
The stroke that defines the idiom is transition strokes. Here a normal round tip brush is first dipped into the (usually) lighter color, such as yellow. Then just the brush tip is dipped into the darker color, like red. The stroke begins by placing just the bush tip down, beginning the stroke, and then bringing the rest of the brush down to complete the stroke. In addition, dots are made using the end of the brush handle, finger tips, etc.
The style emphasizes fantastic rather than realistic flowers (above all else), leaves, stems, and birds (notably forms of peacocks and roosters, aka firebirds and phoenixes), and makes no attempt to be three dimensional. Here are some fine examples of Petrykivka paintings.
The text of the poem
For those who wish to reproduce the poem, for any purpose you desire, here is the full text:
One More Young Seed of Freedom
By Martha and Jack Harich, 2022
The yearning seed of true freedom,
Planted deep in the rightful soil,
Needs warmth, water, and weeding,
A task of endless vigilance and toil.
Since for every ten seeds planted,
Half perish in the tender first year,
And half that in the second, then the third,
Leaving precious few to finally appear.
Tis the rarest of domesticated plants,
A long-sought exotic cultivar,
Now known as liberal democracy,
It grows only where you and you are…
Eternally vigilant, day and night,
Always true to the noble cause,
Since if we’re not vigilant enough,
All is soon lost to false applause.
Heard from those who are cheering,
For populist authoritarians,
Whose clever lies, hates and fears,
Whip the mob into rabid contrarians.
Small lies are stacked into big lies,
Tipping fear into blind intolerance,
Till even your brother becomes the other,
As hate escalates into mob violence.
At the helm stands the chief deceiver,
Fanning flames of hate into war.
Soon brother turns upon brother,
And the pattern runs its course once more.
The center cannot hold, nations choose sides,
The invaders pour forth blood and gore.
Whistling shells fly, shrapneled bodies die,
Till one day the battlefield cries no more.
That day is coming none too soon,
To the wise and the brave of Ukraine,
Because those who believe in democracy,
Have refused the sweet soothing refrain:
“Who cares of distant wars, on other shores?
Why not appease the might master?”
Hark! Such roads turn up at first,
But later down, to doom and disaster.
Stand! With the people who resolutely see,
Stand! With the Mensch who did not flee,
Because “The fight is here. I need ammunition not a ride.”
Causing you and you to globally decide,
To give one more young Seed of Freedom,
All it needs to grow tall and thrive.
That’s the best We the People can do,
If democracy is to long survive.