Early in March, many families in Italy began posting drawings, paintings and banners of rainbows with the message “Andrà tutto bene” (translation: “Everything will be alright”) as the country faced the isolation and ravages of the novel coronavirus. Now, rainbow images are showing up in windows and doorways of homes worldwide — and that includes Maplewood and South Orange. The images represent solidarity, hope and kindness (we photograph at least two in Maplewood thanking postal workers), as well as a means to keep young children occupied during distance learning and and isolated spring break.
Suzanne Urban Ryan
Other images are popping up as well. We noticed more than a few globes and world maps. Clearly, the theme of worldwide solidarity is on everyone’s minds as this is a pandemic. Maplewood resident Suzanne Urban Ryan explained her globe poster affixed to her front door in the Hilton neighborhood: “Feeling isolated and missing social contact, I decided to make a poster for my front door. It is a world with a heart in the middle. In the heart I placed a band aid. I wrote a caption: ‘We Are One Family.'”
Ryan hopes the idea catches on. “Making the poster, and then hanging it on my front door, made me feel less helpless somehow…I felt like I was connecting to the world. We are, after all, part of one big family.” It made her think that it would be great for homes throughout South Orange and Maplewood to display the same message. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful if that message connected us all? I think it would be a hearty dose of connection and positivity we all could use right now!”
