Somehow I Had To Turn The Salted

I Adore Themes Of Hope And Courage And The Ways We Find Meaning Through Suffering.

I Looked Down At The Little Pink Face In The Bundle. A Newborn. The Child Had Been Alive Only Minutes But Was Already Considered A Criminal By The Soviets.

What Was Life Asking Of Me? How Could I Respond When I Didn't Know The Question?

I Felt As If I Were Riding A Pendulum. Just As I Would Swing Into The Abyss Of Hopelessness, The Pendulum Would Swing Back With Some Small Goodness.

My Art Teacher Had Said That If You Breathed Deeply And Imagined Something, You Could Be There. You Could See It, Feel It. During Our Standoffs With The Nkvd, I Learned To Do That. I Clung To My Rusted Dreams During The Times Of Silence. It Was At Gunpoint That I Fell Into Every Hope And Allowed Myself To Wish From The Deepest Part Of My Heart. Komorov Thought He Was Torturing Us. But We Were Escaping Into A Stillness Within Ourselves. We Found Strength There.