"A Thread That Holds the World Together – The Quiet Wisdom of 13-Year-Old Anja Rozen"

There are images that scream – and there are images that whisper. The drawing by 13-year-old Anja Rozen from Slovenia does not merely whisper – it breathes, connects, carries. It is not a loud protest, not a glaring symbol, not a booming manifesto. And yet it says more about the state of our world than many a conference or government statement.

In delicate lines and warm colors, Anja shows something we so often forget: interconnectedness. Her drawing, awarded first prize in the international “Plakat Miru” poster competition, was selected from over 600,000 entries from around the globe. No coincidence. Because what Anja shows is not only artistically touching – it is philosophically deep, humanly wise, and nearly universal.

“My drawing represents the Earth, which connects and unites us. People weave each other. If someone lets go, the others fall. We are all connected with our planet and with each other, but unfortunately we are barely aware of it.”

It is a sentence as if from a great novel – and yet it comes from a child who seems to have understood more than many adults. People weave each other – what a simple, powerful image. No one stands alone. Everyone holds and is held. Every thread matters. And whoever lets go, tears a hole in the net through which others may fall.

In Anja’s work, the Earth is not abstract. It is lived closeness, woven responsibility. No flag, no country, no “us and them” – only people, interwoven. Their hands hold each other, their bodies form circles, lines, bridges. They carry each other – or let each other fall.

In a time when the world is once again building walls – between countries, opinions, hearts – this image reminds us of something we are in danger of losing: the quiet knowledge of our mutual dependence. Not as weakness, but as strength. Not as an obstacle, but as a promise.

Perhaps the hope for our time does not lie in new technologies or grand speeches. Perhaps it lies in a child’s drawing from Slovenia. In the clarity of a gaze that has not yet unlearned how to feel. In a thread spun by a 13-year-old – from heart to heart.

And perhaps, sometimes, an image that does not scream is enough – to wake an entire world.