Seeing news on 24th of February 2022 morning about Vladimir Putin starting “special operation” in Ukraine for a minute left me with no words, just disbelief mixed with shock and deep sadness.. instantly i started crying. Not only because military action is always terrible, not only because many innocent people, adults and children, will die, be wounded, deprived of housing and means of subsistence, left without water, food and basic necessities, and also because two close countries, two Slavic brothers have reached a point of misunderstanding and hatred, when the paths there is no more, burning the last bridges of friendship and mutual understanding, destroying all the good and good that connected them.
And why did this affect me so much, you ask. Because I and my country are connected with Russia and Ukraine not only by centuries-old history, but by brotherhood, mutual assistance and support, which are only in the family. What binds us all is that we are children of the USSR.
I don’t like politics, I don’t like to talk about political topics, as many do, I honestly don’t understand much, so don’t judge my opinion too harshly. I was only 12 years old when the Soviet union collapsed, so my memories are somewhere childishly naïve, but I know that people were kind and sympathetic. , oftenabout ho dili to visit each other, borrow sugar, tea and salt, if it turned out that you have run out of them at home and it is too late to go to the store . If one of the friends or neighbors was in the hospital, people went to visit them with freshly prepared homemade food, packed in glass jars.
People helped each other build houses, make repairs, plant and dig potatoes, and there was plenty of everything in the stores, from all sorts of food to clothing and appliances , and everything. of domestic production.
The ruble was a stable currency, for example in 1990 the ruble exchange rate against the dollar was 1:1.6.
Everyone worked together and together, rested together, went to subbotniks. And most importantly, there were no beggars and rich, everyone was equal, no one looked and asked who was from which country, because if a person spoke Russian language, so he’s his own, native.
It is sad that times have changed and not for the better. It is terrible that it can be even worse, scary for the future of children, because they will be raised not on brotherly love and unity, but on hatred and anger towards each other, because the older generation has not found ways to understand their problems and differences peacefully. It is terrible that you will have to keep silent about your nationality for fear of seeing condemnation and reproach in the eyes of the interlocutor.
In general, it seems that in recent years the leading emotion of our existence has become fear and although I really want to hope for changes for the better, we still remain afraid.