A member of the Kennedy family, Maria Shriver is a woman for all seasons. An author and a journalist, this former first lady of California has always made it a point to put forth her opinion as a voice for the voiceless. In her capacity as a journalist, she has advocated for basic human rights on multiple occasions including for hundreds of lost and displaced Ukrainians. However, as luck (bad luck) would have it, she is yet again struck with a feeling of remorse after learning about the recent events in Turkey and Syria. More specifically, of that of a young girl who lost her mother.

Maria Shriver, who was once married to bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, suddenly found herself to be static after reading a news headline. It’s been a decade since Shriver lost her mother, but the headline suddenly brought all those memories rushing back to her. Here’s what she felt.

Maria Shriver found herself motionless by grief

Maria Shriver quoted on mariashriversundaypaper.com, “I just want my mother”. Except, the line wasn’t her own but what she saw in a news headline. Shriver was terrified to read the news any further below the headline, and wrote, “The words in the headline appeared above a photo of a young girl sitting amidst the earthquake rubble in Syria. I stared at it for the longest time, but I couldn’t bear to click on the link. Imagine that. I didn’t feel strong enough to read the article.”

While she hasn’t explicitly mentioned the source of the headline, news about the devastating effects of the Turkey and Syria earthquakes and the lives it has claimed, is flooding all news websites. One, among many victims, was a young girl who lost her mother. And in doing so, she grappled Maria Shriver’s heart. Shriver continued, “As a mother, the headline gripped my heart. As a daughter who still grieves her mother more than a decade after her passing, the words felt all too familiar.”

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She was dead straight against avoiding the story for she knew the grief it would bring her. However, Shriver continued, “So I scrolled past the story. But then throughout the day, the headline, the image, and the quote kept tugging at me. It’s almost like they were pleading with me to be read”. This wasn’t the first time Shriver shared her sorrow with the happenings around the world.

Maria Shriver’s constant advocacy to raise awareness of human tragedies around the world

It’s been a year since the war in Ukraine, and Shriver felt devastated just to remember the countless souls who sacrificed their lives in their endeavor to save their country. She also called upon the entire world to focus on the Ukrainians’ bravery and courage in such testing times, and take inspiration from them. Shriver has been equally vociferous throughout her life around the ones that needed the limelight.

Be it the war in Ukraine or the natural devastation in Turkey and Syria, the pain, suffering, and lives lost are staggering. While both are clearly different—one is being waged by humans, and the other, a natural phenomenon—one can’t help but notice the similarities in what remains after they are over… heaps of ash, rubble, and dreams shattered as far as the eye could reach.

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