Today I Was Given a Present.

Remember the Ukrainian woman I met back in the summer, the one with the little girl who’s living in accommodation provided by a family in the village?

When I first approached her she was hesitant and looked scared of me. The second time I saw and spoke to her she was more open. She even smiled a little. Today I was out in the rain clearing the road grids when I heard a voice behind me. It was the Ukrainian woman saying ‘hellooooo…’ and she was smiling broadly.

That sort of thing means a lot to me, you know. It does. Seeing a troubled victim of a tyrant’s selfish aggression thawing out and growing brighter is a gift of rare magnitude to an empath.