Sometimes Kindness Can Be Delivered In A

My Breathing Slowed. I Shaded Her Thick Chestnut Hair Resting In A Smooth Curve Against Her Face, A Large Bruise Blazing Across Her Cheek. I Paused, Looking Over My Shoulder To Make Certain I Was Alone. I Drew Her Eye Makeup, Smudged By Tears. In Her Watery Eyes I Drew The Reflection Of The Commander, Standing In Front Of Her, His Fist Clenched. I Continued To Sketch, Exhaled, And Shook Out My Hands.

My Husband, Andrius, Says That Evil Will Rule Until Good Men Or Women Choose To Act. I Believe Him. This Testimony Was Written To Create An Absolute Record, To Speak In A World Where Our Voices Have Been Extinguished. These Writing May Shock Or Horrify You, But That Is Not My Intention. It Is My Greatest Hope That The Pages In This Jar Stir Your Deepest Well Of Human Compassion. I Hope They Prompt You To Do Something, To Tell Somone. Only Then Can We Ensure That This Kind Of Evil Is Never Allowed To Repeat Itself.

It Amazed Me How Some People Could Touch An Instrument And Create Something So Beautiful, And When Others Tried, Like Me, It Just Sounded Like Mangled Noise.

My Art Teacher Had Said That If You Breathed Deeply And Imagined Something, You Could Be There. You Could See It, Feel It. During Our Standoffs With The Nkvd, I Learned To Do That. I Clung To My Rusted Dreams During The Times Of Silence. It Was At Gunpoint That I Fell Into Every Hope And Allowed Myself To Wish From The Deepest Part Of My Heart. Komorov Thought He Was Torturing Us. But We Were Escaping Into A Stillness Within Ourselves. We Found Strength There.

Sometimes There Is Such Beauty In Awkwardness. There's Love And Emotion Trying To Express Itself, But At The Time, It Just Ends Up Being Awkward.