A century in a lifetime
I got a crush course in the twentieth century in a matter of a few decades. I grew up in the then-Soviet Ukraine, where almost everyone was poor without knowing it and didn’t have basic necessities. I ended up living in a Capitalist country where it’s hard for consumers to pick among millions of things they don’t even need. I experienced the rise of Mafia, born out of prohibition, just as it happened in America some sixty years beforehand. I saw how low some people can sink when they need money while others become their best in the same situation. Those times were reminiscent of the Great Depression.
I observed how cruel seemingly normal young men could be when they become a part of the dark world without conscience. Their behavior explained to me how so many Communists could torture their fellow citizens and how many Germans took part in the atrocities during the WWII. I marveled at the sexual revolution sweeping people in Ukraine as young as twelve and I understood how desire for a change of the old turns into a rebellion against all traditions, because any tradition starts being perceived as oppressive. The booming drug culture of the mid-nineties became a part of the same rebellion. That taught me about the 1960’s.
My own part in all that insanity taught me that I’m a very strong woman who doesn’t need any man or any law for that matter to protect her from injustice, it taught me that I can stand up for myself and rise above the petty meaningless things, it taught me that I’m also human and therefore can at times be weak; but most importantly it taught me that there is a purpose and a meaning in everything that happens to us. I’m glad that in my short life I experienced extreme happiness as well as extreme sadness because it made me who I am. Furthermore, I’m really happy with who I am and I think that becoming happy with oneself is the most important thing a person can accomplish.
