““The boys lived in their own simple, carefree world, unconcerned with hygiene and unaware of the theory of evolution. Yet ruthless natural selection—further intensified by human disregard for its principles and the laws of biology—allowed only the strongest and most enduring to survive. — Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three Context note: This quote reflects childhood lived under harsh social neglect, where survival depended not on care or knowledge, but on physical resilience. Set against the backdrop of Soviet Ukraine, it uses the metaphor of natural selection to expose how indifference to basic human and biological needs shaped who endured—and who did not.””
