A glimpse of light
Reflections about gratitude, 20 days in Mariupol film, resilience, and hope.
On Thanksgiving evening, my husband and I decided to take a stroll in the neighborhood before dinner. The air was crisp, the remaining leaves on the trees were illuminated by the yellow light from the street lamps, and the windows were glowing with warmth and a festive atmosphere. I paused by one of them as I saw a big family sitting around the table, chatting, smiling, and sharing a meal. A little girl ran to an elderly man, most likely her grandfather, hugged him, and, giggling, ran away. I smiled, but as I kept walking, sadness filled my chest. Each holiday reminds me how lucky I am to have a big family. But it also reminds me how lonely I am because my loved ones live across the world. As I kept walking around the neighborhood, I tried to switch my thoughts to gratitude instead of sadness. I was telling myself how grateful I am for having a loving family. How grateful I am for knowing that they are safe. How grateful I am for being able to remain close to them despite living so far away. How grateful I am for having the technology that allows me to talk to them and see them on the screen whenever I want to. My thoughts were interrupted by a phone notification: Mom shared a photo of the first snow in the Polish town where she lives. The photo was followed by a video she recorded during her evening walk in the snowfall. It showed the snowflakes dancing in the yellow light of the street lamps. As I watched it, I imagined our planet and me on one side of it and my mom on another: both walking in the evening, thinking about our family, and taking photos and videos to share the moments of our lives with each other. I envisioned the lights of the street lamps, lights of the phone screens, lights of the moving planes, trains, and cars, lights of the windows – all forming one big strip of light and going from me to my family all around the globe, connecting us, and keeping us close despite the distance.
A few days before Thanksgiving, the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary premiered online in the U.S. and Canada. As one of the translators who worked on this film, I started to receive numerous messages from people who watched it and wanted to share their thoughts and feedback. However, one message stood out – a message from a person who survived the siege of Mariupol themselves. They spent weeks in the cold basement, hiding from the Russian bombs, tanks, and soldiers. Their house was destroyed, as well as all their belongings. They watched the city being razed to the ground in front of their eyes. They lost people they loved. In the message, they wrote that the horrors in the documentary were only a fraction of what happened in Mariupol, yet they were grateful that this film was made and shown to the world. They also thanked me for contributing to it. Despite the unimaginable pain that person lives with, they were grateful. Grateful for the journalists who stayed in the city and documented everything, grateful for the team who put the film together, grateful for the truth to be shown, and grateful to people who didn’t look away and watched it. I thought that gratitude can have different shades and forms. Sometimes, it is light and warm; sometimes, it goes together with sadness; and sometimes, it takes enormous strength to feel it in your heart.
Watch the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary on YouTube and the Frontline PBS website.
As I was writing this newsletter, my cat Mayson curled by my side and started to purr. My husband was working on his laptop in the other corner of the room. The sounds of the keyboard and purring filled the place. I stopped for a second and thought how grateful I am for this moment of peace in the midst of the tornado we live in. Sometimes, we don’t need much to be happy and grateful: a calm evening, a purring cat, a loved one close. I hope to have more moments like this.
Thank you for reading the words from my heart! I’m grateful for your presence here.
P.S.: I spent this week cooking and taking photos of the family recipes for Christmas dinner. I’ll share them at the beginning of December. There will be five traditional Eastern European recipes from my Ukrainian and Belarusian families: the main dish with meat and vegetables, two appetizers, a dessert, and a drink. I can’t wait to share them with you! You can browse the recipes from the previous months here.
Warmly,
Darya
Email: daryazorka@substack.com
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Watch the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary
Watch Frontline PBS documentaries on Ukraine
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How precious to hear from your mom just as you were thinking of her and all that connects you. This post, all of it, made me smile. Being thankful definitely helps to change our outlook, even in the midst of, as you said, a tornado.