Russia of Challenges
Russia of Challenges Ministry of Defence FINLAND Eteläinen Makasiinikatu 8 PL 31, 00131 HELSINKI www.defmin.fi Layout: Tiina Takala / Ministry of Defence Translation: R&J Language Service Print: Edita Prima Oy, 2008 Cover photo: Lehtikuva ISBN: 978-951-25-1951-4 FEARS Fears are passing away in Russia. Spectres of bygone days like babushkas in some church vestibules begging for bread. I remember when still in their prime they dwelled in the court of Lie, celebrating its victory. Fears, skulking like shadows, penetrated every strata. Little by little they oppressed everyone leaving their mark on everything: when people should have been silent they made them scream, when screams were called for they were muffled. It all feels so distant today. And it feels strange even to reflect on the furtive fear of denunciation, the secret terror when someone knocked at the door. What, then, about the fear of talking to a foreigner? Or, alas, even to your wife? Yea, the unlimited fear of being left abandoned, alone with silence after the parade. We were not afraid of building in a blizzard, nor did we shirk from combat in a hail of bullets, yet, sometimes we had a mortal fear of facing ourselves. Still, we were never conquered or corrupted and Russia, having shed its fears, for good reason and, for now, does instil growing fear among its enemies. I wish all men were overcome by the fear of passing a sentence without a fair trial; the fear of humbling the idea to a lie; the fear of exalting oneself with a lie; the fear of leaving a tortured soul without compassion, and the greatest of all fear: of being afraid while standing at an easel or drawing board.
[Show full text]