Diana Kachan from Krasyliv, Khmelnytskiy Oblast, came second in the Ukrainian National Philosophy Olympiad for School Students. In 2017, competitors in the Olympiad wrote an essay on Environmental Awareness. The 16-year old Diana wrote about how human conscience has an effect on what’s happening in nature. An unfortunate incident that happened to Diana when she was 12 taught her to value the most important things, and to take a philosophical attitude towards life.
“A horse got scared and just took off. I don’t remember how it happened, how it hit me. I just remember being taken to a hospital. I had a huge amount of blood loss. The doctors thought I had a cerebral hemorrhage. They gave different prognoses. However, after I survived the accident, I felt as if I’d become more mature. When I compare myself then and now, they seem to be two completely different people.
Earlier, it seemed to me that everything was going the way I wanted it and that I was the one deciding my destiny. But after what happened, I began to realize that someone was probably guiding me.
Earlier I wanted to feel sorry for myself, and now, when failures happen, you just understand that they are all minor things compared to my accident. I guess, whatever happens, happens for the best. All the same, it’s difficult to say that such an accident happened for the best.
But those were six months I just simply needed to go through. And at that time I had my mom and my dad next to me at all times. It was probably then that I began to feel their support in a special way.
I come from a slightly unusual family. My father is Ukrainian and my mom is from Armenia. I have two younger sisters – Karolina and Eva.
Family is something sacred, something above all.
For me, family comes first. Then comes one’s career, and then everything else. I’d really want to have a family where everybody understands each other without words. Not every family is like that. I really value what we have.
In my free time I like to write poems. My poems are about various things — there are poems about family. And there are a lot of poems about Ukraine.
Probably every person goes through a period when they start to think about the meaning of life. I had that when I was in hospital. I was lying there, thinking: ‘What if this is the end? What have I accomplished in my life?’
It seems to me that the meaning of life is about living it well. To live it the way you want and, I guess, do good to other people.
At first I wanted to be a doctor. I thought that that was how I could help people. And now I think that you can just help people in any situation, regardless of your profession.
I’d like to wish for peace for our country, because what’s happening now is horrifying, all that bloodshed. And most importantly, I’d like to wish our country independence. Because for so many years throughout its existence Ukraine always had to fight for its freedom. And I hope that it will happen one day. I’m confident that it will. I really want that. Not only for myself, but also for future generations.
I’d like to see no violence in our world. I wish we could remove the borders between the countries, for the people to become closer, to remove all the barriers between us.”
