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ON SHEVCHENKO’S ANNIVERSARY In St. Petersburg, Florida in March 1992 the Ukrainian community held a commemorative event in honor of Ukraine’s bard, Taras Shevchenko. Such events are the mainstay of the Ukrainian community life wherever that group of people may be, for Shevchenko brings cohe siveness to the structure of our existence. A speaker at the event was a young woman, Maria Hanushevsky-Hull. Today, my dear participants in this commemorative celebration in honor of Shevchenko, I would like to share with you the thoughts of an individual who was not born in Ukraine and was raised far from any large Ukrainian community. I want to tell you how I met our great Prophet who taught me to love Ukraine, to love our language and literature. I was first introduced to Shevchenko at events sim ilar to this one. My mother was one of the organizers of these events and every year I would learn one of Shev chenko’s poems in order to recite it at this auspicious occasion. I don’t remember the poems anymore, but the emotions which I felt while reciting these words — sim ple, comprehensible even to a twelve year old child — have remained with me... the words that followed each other naturally as the waves follow one another to the shore. Although I didn’t always understand the full mean ing of Shevchenko’s poems, yet the language and the rhythm of his words had its magic and a specific hyp notic effect on me. Everyone of us has met Shevchenko in his or her way. As young children we were taught about him and learned to recite his poems. This link with our past and the past of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, this thread of love for our language, binds us tightly. I grew up in a community without a Ukrainian school. My mother was our teacher during the summer, while the books on the shelves in our home were my sources for learning the language, literature and culture of Ukraine. Ivan Franko, Bohdan Lepkyj, but most of all Taras Shevchenko ignited the love I have for the lan guage of my parents. The works of Shevchenko consti tuted my Ukrainian school. Some of us are probably unhappy because our children and grandchildren don’t speak Ukrainian, don’t know much about Ukraine, about Shevchenko. In my generation there already are many mixed marriages, and to a greater extent the daily influence of the Ameri- She expressed feelings that all of us share concerning our great poet, but what is interesting in her simple story is that she learned to love Ukraine, the land of her fore fathers through the words in Shevchenko's poetry. Fol lowing are some excerpts from Ms. Hull’s address in English translation. can culture within which we live has the upper hand. That is understandable and normal. However, each one of us is capable of giving our children and grandchild ren that greatest gift — the love for the Ukrainian lan guage, history and culture. The things that we love and interest us become the true legacy of wealth for our children. Like the dandelion seeds which the wind car ries far and wide, not knowing where or how many will take root, so the love for our language, history and cul ture will find a place in the hearts of our children. Shevchenko said that a word is a treasure to an individual who has nothing, a treasure more valuable than gold. From Shevchenko we have learned that true poetry is written in a language that is understood with out a dictionary. An ingredient of true poetry is spiritual strength. Shevchenko had such strength and he ex pressed himself with great feeling and real love. I am grateful to all of you for giving me the privilege of getting to know Shevchenko. I am grateful to you for arranging the Shevchenko commemorative events year after year, for teaching your children and the children of others. You gave a new generation of Ukrainians the opportunity to feel a deep bond with the new Ukraine. I want to pass on to my children this love for Ukraine, for its language, history and culture, which you, the inheri tors of Shevchenko’s creativity passed on to my genera tion. This was not a small achievement. As we have done this year, let us try every year to have a part of the Shevchenko commemorative event in the English language. Young people who live outside of Ukrainian communities and who had no opportunity to learn the Ukrainian language, will be encouraged to par ticipate. Let us also invite English speaking guests so that they, too, may learn about Shevchenko’s words and about Ukraine. (Ms. Hull’s address was submitted by Marta Hajduk, a subscriber to OUR LIFE). 2 2 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 1993 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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