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In this story about Korolev I emphasized only one, a small but important, fact - that he was doing morning exercise in Siberian labor/death camp. My point was that he was not giving up under the harshest of circumstances probably telling to himself that if there is destiny for him, he should be ready to answer it even if it requires a miracle. Yes, he knew he could die, but not because he gave up

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I wonder if I could design a study of myself that tracks in detail what anguish hope change like over time but across small intervals too

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It's too bad there was no social media to transcribe his thoughts or detail his specific state of mind although Dostoevsky did his version of that in Siberian notes, scribbles during his prison stay, and Nelson Mandela too wrote and buried his memoirs repeatedly while in prison, I'm curious to know the detail, the ups and downs specifically rather than just the overall trend, the micro data of the human spirit...

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Needless to say, death would be his fate. He knew that. He was badly beaten regularly by the guards. Once his jaw was broken. The other times some bones. He was probably months from the death. But then the war happened. Stalin learned about hitler’s work on missiles and remembered about his own engineer. Korolev was saved by the bell.

This is just an introduction. What really impressed me about him was that according to the witnesses he was the ONLY guy in the camp who did gymnastics every morning there. (Think Auschwitz prisoner doing gymnastics every day before going to the gas chamber).

What impressed me is his belief in his fate, his goal in life, his Star that will be reached, Stalin or no Stalin, Siberian death camp or whatever. His belief in his purpose the drive to reach it.

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I keep thinking about your Silk Road founder. Obviously Russia is aflush with stories like this. One of my favorites.

Sergei Korolev - a father of Russian space program. The designer of Sputnik, of all subsequent spaceships, of the ship with the first man in space, first walk in space, etc, etc. one of the titans of 20 th century on the world scale.

As true with almost every great man in the Soviet Union he was sent to labor camps by Stalin in the late thirties as a spy, traitor or something like that. You know what a Russian labor camp is. Survival rate is low, 5% perhaps.

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I actually had no idea about Ross or would have ever really given much time to think about the human behind the silk road-your away messages always bring a character into the fold through the angle of their suffering/remorse/will to continue, in a way that very few outlets would choose to highlight

redemption arcs from the dark web ..hermeneutical analysis... interfaith discourse.. thoughts about writing..what more could a person want? away message gold , thanks bex

btw- i oddly thought of this exchange in lord of the rings as a follow up to both your comment about desiring freedom AND Soken's comment's about endlessly fighting to seek truth rather than forgetting the moment

Aragorn: You have some skill with a blade.

Eowyn: The women of this country learned long ago, those without swords can still die upon them. I fear neither death nor pain.

Aragorn: What do you fear, my lady?

Eowyn: A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire.

Aragorn: You are a daughter of kings, a shield maiden of Rohan. I do not think that will be your fate.

hehe, til next week

the face of y0u

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Are you reading Tolkien now???

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And you could shed more light on interfaith discourse I'm sure, you bring that and I'll bring the martyr

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I love you detka! You will prevail 🤞

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Thank

U

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Beautifully written

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Aww shucks, thank you

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Jan 17, 2023
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Mike thank you! you part of the fam! And the little bit I saw of your fiction I loved (was the best in the group), I give you props for tackling long form, I think it might be the hardest thing on the planet

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