by Mimi Lang – Published in the Morning call March 25, 2022

It was wonderful to read the article about sunflowers blooming throughout the Lehigh Valley in support of the people of Ukraine as they struggle to survive the Russian invasion. Sunflowers are bright and beautiful, offering all of us a sign of hope.

In 1996 sunflowers took on the unique quality of being the universal symbol of nuclear disarmament. At that time, U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts planted sunflowers on the site of a former Soviet missile silo, symbolically saluting Ukraine’s new status as a nuclear weapon-free state.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma called on other nations to follow in Ukraine’s path and “to do everything to wipe nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth as soon as possible.”

We have not risen to the challenge. Let us renew our efforts to become a nuclear-free world, starting with the U.S.

Mimi Lang

Bethlehem

Readers React: Sunflowers offer a sign of hope – The Morning Call (mcall.com)