i've been steadfastly working for several years now translating a book written about thirty years ago by a Ukrainian author about traumatized displaced persons. the trauma Ukrainians experienced after living through horrific events well before WWII and including WWII was deep and severe and has been, for the most part, buried and unexpressed. Emma Andiievska has attempted to expose some of that trauma in A NOVEL ABOUT A GOOD PERSON. i can't help being affected by the book, by what happened. here, in peaceful, rural Ohio, in the year 2011, i am affected by current events, too, and it was, at times, difficult to concentrate and to remain committed to actually finish the translation. the point being that nothing has changed. the point being: life in Soviet Ukraine was full of terror; WWII was horrible; but look at what's happening in the world around us today: calamity, grief, terror, horror, and yet again, so many traumatized victims. it all leaves me spent. i just can't hold it. still, i've finished translating the book. i did stay committed to bringing out that sliver of human history and a people's shattered lives. don't those plain and often funny people derserve our admiration? isn't there a profound dignity in having the strenght to remain human through the worst situations? isn't every life valuable? isn't every life worthy, at the very least, of being noticed? isn't it?