In business, spring is not the best awakening. New, even stronger waves of layoffs are coming. At the end of 2008, companies optimized to maximize profits by cutting costs. It was impossible to obtain the planned profit without these measures given the crisis, since sales were trending negatively. Therefore, companies cut headcount and administrative costs. This allowed us to fix the planned profit for 2008.
2009 does not have the same preferences as 2008. There is no budgetary fat, losses are recorded in operating activities from the first months and a negative trend is predicted until the 4th quarter. This means that, along with summing up the results for the first quarter, investors will ask: “at whose expense is the banquet?” and at this moment we will feel real wave abbreviations...

“As you wish,” he said. “Think what you want, I won’t forbid you... It seems you are going to light a pipe, captain. And I, if you allow, will do the same.”
He filled his pipe with tobacco and lit it. The two men sat silently for a long time, now looking into each other's faces, now taking a puff of smoke, now bending forward to spit. It was funny to watch them, theatrical performance.
“These are our terms,” Silver finally said. “You give us a map so that we can find treasures, you stop shooting unfortunate sailors and breaking their heads when they sleep.” If you agree to this, we offer you a choice of two options. Exit one: having loaded the treasures, we allow you to return to the ship, and I give you honestly that I will land you somewhere on shore safe. If you don’t like the first option, since many of my sailors have been sharpening their teeth on you for a long time, here’s the second one: we will leave you here on the island. We will share the provisions with you equally, and I promise to send the first ship we come across for you. I advise you to accept these terms. Better conditions you won't achieve it. I hope,” here he raised his voice, “all your people here in the house hear my words, for what is said to one is said to all.”
Captain Smollett stood up and shook the ashes from his pipe into the palm of his left hand.
- And it's all? - he asked.
- It is mine the last word, I swear by thunder! – John answered. “If you refuse, our guns will speak for me.”
“Great,” said the captain. – Now listen to me. If you all come to me here unarmed one by one, I undertake to put you in shackles, take you to England and bring you to a fair trial. But if you don't show up, remember that my name is Alexander Smollett, that I stand under this flag, and that I will send everyone to the devil. You won't find any treasure. You will not be able to sail away on a ship: none of you know how to steer a ship. You are also not experts in fighting: against one Gray there were five of yours, and he left everyone. You are firmly aground, Captain Silver, and will not get off soon. This is the last one kind word which you hear from me. And the next time we meet, I will put a bullet in your back. Get out, my dear! Hurry up!
Silver's eyes flashed with rage. He shook the fire out of his pipe.
- Give me your hand so I can get up! - he shouted.
“I won’t,” said the captain.
-Who will give me a hand? - Silver roared.
None of us moved. Cursing disgustingly, Silver crawled to the porch, grabbed it, and only then managed to get up. He spat into the source.
– You are like this spit to me! - he shouted. “In an hour, I’ll heat up your old blockhouse like a barrel of rum.” Laugh, thunder, laugh! In an hour you will laugh differently. And those of you who remain alive will envy the dead!" Treasure Island. Stevenson

Of course, this is, first of all, a political decision. A hundred soldiers in the event of a war with Russia is nothing. However, this step is military-political support for the US desire to provoke a preventive war, as well as a share of responsibility for inciting it. A hundred of our soldiers could mean a Russian response with tens and hundreds of thousands of dead, but, of course, all of them will not be from Mr. Stropnitsky’s numerous relatives, which must be preserved for “enrichment” with violent African males. To the dead it is also necessary, logically, to add the corresponding number of wounded, lifelong disabled and radiation sickness patients, as well as destroyed energy, infrastructure and contaminated soil.

I admit that it is our soldiers who could be deliberately chosen as the target of an attack by some hard-to-identify green men in order to provoke the necessary hostile sentiments among our citizens towards Russia and turn into a trigger for a NATO war with the Russian “aggressor” in Ukraine or the Baltic states . We have seen many similar cases in history - primarily from the USA and Germany. Suffice it to recall the strange incident with the downing of a plane over Ukraine or the case of Iraqi nuclear weapons, which have not yet been found. In the event of the First World War, the Germans used an air attack on western front from France, and in the Second - they themselves prepared aggression from Poland, which was much weaker than Germany.

You spoke about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. Is it possible to imagine “only” a traditional war between NATO and Russia? Could you please speculate on the likely course of such a conflict?

Russia, if we compare its armed forces with NATO, is two or even ten times weaker in the number of military personnel, as well as various kinds military equipment, and, of course, by the number of countries involved in the battles. In addition, Russia must protect a huge territory. The attack may come from the west, south, east or north, or perhaps from all sides at the same time. Therefore, against the most likely NATO aggression through Ukraine and the Baltic states, Russia can realistically field a maximum of half of its armed forces. Compared to the Second World War, Russia now has much less room for maneuver in the west. To repel an attack from the south, Russia can use about a quarter of its forces, because the main US and NATO forces are concentrated in the west.

In the event of a conflict with Russia, it cannot be ruled out that NATO forces will be supported by the Islamic army of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as some terrorist organizations from Afghanistan, Chechnya and other regions. However, only the Islamic army is as strong as the Russian one and is armed with the most modern American weapons. Saudi Arabia also has chemical weapon and, according to some sources, several nuclear warheads. For them, the Saudis have medium-range carriers. The leadership of the US/NATO and the EU, surprisingly, is not worried about this, unlike other countries. Doesn't the reason for their connivance lie precisely in the possibility of Islamic aggression against Russia?
Therefore, Russia has no choice but to - in the event of a conflict with superior NATO forces and other enemies - resort to using nuclear weapons. In general, it does not matter where and under what pretext the United States will provoke a war, and who will win it at the initial stage. If Russia does not use its nuclear weapons in time, it could lose a significant portion of them to an American attack on Russian ground-based launch sites, air bases and naval forces. Even if the first American strike were carried out by guided missiles and drones with conventional warheads, Russia would have to respond with a nuclear strike.

Despite all the above considerations, the traditional start of a war against Russia cannot be ruled out. This could be the use of Islamic armies from the south through Chechnya and Azerbaijan with the participation of Ukraine. The American army could observe the results of the battles and enter them according to the situation. Moreover, grenades, bombs and missiles may be American-made, but they can be fired from Ukrainian weapons and dropped from Turkish aircraft. In this case, Russia faces the problem of timely use of nuclear weapons, and the enemy could successfully prepare a situation that would contribute to the surprise factor for a strike on Russian system Missile defense and nuclear forces. Even so, it would be strategically wiser for Russia to launch a nuclear strike against the enemy in the south, no matter what. In all the cases described, the main question is: would China's actions be consistent with the agreement on assistance in the event of an attack on Russia by another state?

Let's return to the use of nuclear weapons. Tell us what the effect of one nuclear warhead is, so that we understand the likely consequences if war breaks out.

Honestly speaking, if you start nuclear war the majority of citizens are from Russia, primarily in countries of Eastern Europe, could relax, open a bottle of good wine and humbly await death. After such a war, the survivors will envy the dead. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were evidence of the action of one rather weak nuclear warhead in the form of an aerial bomb. Very weak before the explosion American bomb with a warhead of just over 12 kilotons of TNT, 350 thousand people lived in Hiroshima. Immediately after the explosion, 40 thousand of them died, over the next few days - another 40 thousand, and in total - 166 thousand. Others have suffered and are suffering from different problems with health, starting with DNA disorders. Of the 90 thousand buildings, 62 thousand were destroyed. However, on the other hand, it is interesting that modern Hiroshima is a thriving city with 1,170,000 inhabitants. That is, the consequences nuclear strike in the long run were not so destructive. This may also be an incentive to use nuclear weapons today. This would temporarily solve the problem of overpopulation.

What matters are the regions that would suffer the most during a nuclear war between NATO and Russia. It's about, first of all, about Ukraine (the most likely location of the main anti-Russian ground strike), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia (a growing number of permanently stationed American units in all the Baltic countries), Norway (an American base near Russian borders), Poland (one of the main ground forces in an attack on Russia and the future base of the American missile defense system), Great Britain (120 American bases and military facilities), Germany (American bases, nuclear ammunition depots and a fairly strong Bundeswehr), Holland (American nuclear ammunition depots ), Belgium (NATO command) and Turkey (hostile state and future missile defense base).

Probably, our republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Greece could have suffered less. Those most at risk will be European countries, starting in Germany and east of it. The consequences of attacks on Poland, Ukraine and Germany, however, will be felt by even fairly safe countries, such as our republic, on their own health, supplies and industry. The pollution of a large part of Europe after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant would seem like a small thing in comparison.

Australia would probably suffer the least (unless China enters the war under a military attack treaty with Russia). It can also be assumed that the war will bypass the countries of Africa and Latin America. There will be minimal consequences for Africa possible continuation Islamization of destroyed Europe.

In the USA and Canada, losses will be significantly less than in Europe, because, most likely, it will be possible to intercept at least some of the Russian missiles. In addition, these are very large countries, so, of course, military bases and large agglomerates will be targeted. Thus, the United States will likely be able to cope with the problem of the poor and non-white majority of the population, which could threaten the privileges of the local elite. The question is the possibility of Russian strikes on geological weak points in Yellowstone, which could provoke a large-scale secondary natural disaster in the United States. Likewise in Russia, given its area, the attacks will be local: first of all, cities in the European part will be destroyed.

The growing flow of migrants from the south tells us that we cannot wait for the end of the migration crisis - only the directions and places of penetration into Europe are changing.

All this is a logical consequence of events. Turkey had to limit its Muslim sending activities. Therefore, the thread sponsored Saudi Arabia, was redirected to devastated Libya. In this flow of migrants, Syrians constitute a small minority, and the absolute majority are aggressive, uneducated Africans who carry a number of tropical diseases. The European agency FRONTEX, which is supposed to protect the EU’s borders, has not been fulfilling its duties for a long time and is transporting illegal immigrants by boat from the shores of Libya to Italy. Given the scale of the disaster, Italy could, under the famous fifth article, ask NATO for help. His forces could, without any particular problems, prevent not only the landing of illegal immigrants in Europe, but even their departure from Libya. However, NATO, an organization almost entirely owned by the United States, is not interested in defending Europe, but in attacking Russia. Illegal migrants smuggled into Italy head north to Switzerland and Austria. Everything there depends on the election results: whether these countries will continue to be suicidally open to migrants or will close their doors. If Austria returns to an incredible, unreasonable openness to Islamic invasion, then it will be necessary to quickly prepare for the real defense of our borders.

News and announcements

01.10.2009

In No. 8/9 (August-September) of the magazine “Reading Together” for 2009, an article by Konstantin Dushenko “The Living Envy the Dead” from the series “The History of Famous Quotes” was published.

The living will envy the dead

Who said that? There are three main versions in use:

1. One-Eyed John Silver in Treasure Island.

2. Apostle John in the Apocalypse.

3. Nikita Khrushchev, threatening Americans during the Cuban Crisis.

All three versions are correct - and all three are incorrect.

Having opened “Treasure Island” translated by Nikolai Chukovsky, we read: “In an hour, I will heat up your old blockhouse like a barrel of rum. Laugh, thunder, laugh! In an hour you will laugh differently. And those of you who remain alive will envy the dead!” The last phrase was remembered from the Soviet film adaptations of the novel, and there were four of them, including a cartoon with Dzhigarkhanyan - Silver.

However, Stevenson has neither the word “living” nor the word “envy”. He only says: “Those who die will still be lucky” (“Them that die’ll be the lucky ones”).

But our writers used this phrase long before Stevenson. In Karamzin’s story “Marfa the Posadnitsa” (1803), Marfa warns the Novgorodians before the battle with the Moscow army: “If you return defeated, (...) then the living will envy the dead!” Later, in “The History of the Russian State,” Karamzin will write about Batu’s invasion: “The living then envied the peace of the dead.”

In the summer of 1812, during the invasion of seventy languages, the Rzhev landowner Pyotr Demyanov prophesied: “The hour will soon come when the living will envy the dead” (according to “Letters of a Russian Officer” by Fyodor Glinka).

IN " Yuletide Stories“Nikolai Polevoy (1826) speaks directly about the end of the world: “There will be (...) a time when the living will envy the dead.”

So the saying was taken from the Bible? The Bible literally does not contain these words, although there is something very close: “In those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them” (Apocalypse, 9:6); “And I made the dead (...) more blessed than the living” (Ecclesiastes 4:4).

But besides biblical prophecies, this phrase could have another source - “The Jewish War” by Josephus. Josephus's work on the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was a favorite reading in Ancient Rus'. About the “left-radical” group of Zealots, as we would say, it was said here: “The Zealots (...) equally deprived of burial both those killed on the roads and those tortured in the city (...). Whoever buried one of his loved ones was punished with death along with defectors (...). From the living their anger spread to the dead, and from the dead again to the living. Those who survived considered those who had been exterminated before to be blessed.” An early English edition of The Jewish War (1767) translated: "It made the living jealous of the dead."

This saying became truly popular in the West with the advent of nuclear weapons. In 1960, the treatise “On Thermonuclear War” by the American futurist Herman Kahn was published. Chapter 2 of the book was called: “WILL SURVIVORS BE ENVY OF THE DEAD?” This question was considered in detail, with tables and diagrams, and the answer was given, in general, negative: a final catastrophe will not happen, the percentage of deaths from the direct and long-term consequences of the war will be much less than they think. Kahn probably wanted to fight back against “defeatist” sentiments in Western societies (“better to be red than dead”).

The Cuban crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, happened in the fall of 1962. And in the summer next year Khrushchev, who had already completely fallen out with Mao, stated: “When they say that the people who have made a revolution must start a war, (...) in order (...) to create a more prosperous society on the ruins of the world, it is impossible to understand, comrades! (...) There will be such contamination of the earth’s atmosphere that it is unknown in what state the surviving people will be - will they envy the dead?” (speech in Moscow on July 19, 1963).

Khrushchev, therefore, did not intimidate the Americans, but objected to the Chinese. This statement was met with understanding in America. After the assassination of John Kennedy, his widow Jacqueline wrote to Khrushchev: “He more than once quoted your words in his speeches: “ In a future war, the survivors will envy the dead”».

In the West, this phrase is still often considered a quote from Nikita Sergeevich.

We have a decisively prevailing opinion about the authorship of the one-eyed Silver.

This is such a discrepancy.

Konstantin Dushenko

“Reading Together”, 2009, No. 8/9 (August-September).

Liana Alaverdova

Boy with a wooden sword

And the living will envy the dead...

He was my North, South, my West, my East,
My six days' work, my weekend delight,
Words and their motive, pronouns alloy.
Love, I believed, has no end. I was wrong.
Joseph Brodsky. From W.H. Auden.

It will take months and perhaps years for memory and consciousness to piece together the details into a single picture and thus study and understand the full extent of the loss.
Mark Twain. Autobiography. (These words, written by a great writer, were written on the occasion of the death of his daughter, Susie - Author's Note)

When your loved one dies...

Every death of a loved one is grief. But what people who have lost their loved ones to suicide experience is a feeling of collapse and catastrophe, multiplied by enormous unbearable pain. The famous researcher and physician Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying (67), revolutionized her field and had a huge impact on American psychology and psychotherapy. She first became interested psychological state dying patients and for the first time described the series of changing emotions associated with death and dying.

Dr. Kübler-Ross believed that these feelings apply not only to people who are diagnosed fatal disease and dying, but also to all catastrophic events in a person’s life: loss of freedom, divorce, infertility. Later, American psychiatry extended these feelings to families experiencing the loss of loved ones. A number of researchers note that it is wrong to think that these emotional states are fully present in each and everyone, as well as the fact that they replace each other in a certain fixed sequence: shock, denial, guilt, anger, depression and despair. .

Shock

This is the first stage, which is interspersed with a feeling of disbelief and mortification. The nightmare that has fallen seems unreal. Many people experience emotional numbness. Some can't get over it long years, experiencing what is called in English Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a Post-Traumatic Mental Disorder (or as you can also call Post-Traumatic Syndrome), inherent in numerous war veterans who returned home, when the experience is dreamed at night, comes in the form of nightmares , appears before the mind's eye as if it were happening now. The likelihood of this disorder is especially strong for the one who first discovers the corpse or witnesses a suicide.

My parents were sleeping when Vadik threw himself from the balcony. As it turned out, one of the residents of the house, passing late at night passed by, noticed a lying body. They called the police. My parents were awakened by a knock on the door. When the parents saw the police, they were confused. “Do you live alone?” "No, with son". "Where is your son?" “He’s sleeping...” -Mom,...in full confidence,...opens the door to the bedroom and sees an empty bed. "What about him???" The police quickly move towards the balcony. Then dad saw Vadik’s slippers. “Nadya, he rushed!!!” Is it possible to forget this? The fact that my parents did not lose their minds and did not follow my brother is just all of us lucky...

This is what he writes close person who discovered the corpse of a loved one. “Neither words nor eloquent descriptions can convey the feelings that shook me as I held the cold gray body of my lover. Only someone who has lived through such a tragedy knows the shock, anger and agony that brought me to my knees after discovering the corpse. I heard myself yelling, “No, God, no!” I prayed to the Lord to awaken me from this nightmare. I have never felt so alone. I rocked and cried as I held the lifeless body best friend, whom I happened to know during my life." (68)

Mark Twain, having learned about the death of his daughter Jean, felt, as he admitted, what a soldier feels when he is shot in the stomach. Shock manifests itself in different ways. I have already written about emotional muteness. Here is an eyewitness account. “In the first days after my losses, I remember that I kept myself under control. I had dry eyes during the funeral. I even wrote a eulogy. As I greeted others, I remembered those who celebrated birthdays and anniversaries. Judging by appearance, I was a sea of ​​restraint and calm.

However, I know how I behaved from the words of those around me. I can't remember any details. What happened then is either shrouded in fog or completely absent from consciousness. I endured everything with such restraint because of shock, not strength. The shock held me and carried me through the hours and rituals. But there was a huge emptiness inside me. What others saw as strength was a paper façade. Everything seemed unreal to me and very little registered in my consciousness. I moved as if in a dream." (69)

The feeling of the unreality of what is happening, a bad dream and in general the feeling of the illusory nature of life - all this is familiar to me, I have experienced all this myself. The world turned upside down and nothing mattered anymore.

Negation.

Like a patient with a terminal diagnosis cannot believe what fate has given him: “This cannot happen to me! I feel great!”, and at a time when many are faced with the fact of suicide of their family and friends, they cannot believe it, they deny it. Many insist that it could not have been suicide. That this is murder. That their loved one would never consider committing suicide. There are people who live in a state of denial their whole lives, not wanting to believe what happened to them. For example, the death of 20-year-old super model Svetlana Korshunova, who died from a fall from the window of a high-rise building in Manhattan in 2008, caused a powerful reaction of denial from her mother, who did not want to believe that her daughter could want to commit suicide. According to many researchers, suicide statistics are underestimated in all countries, since relatives and friends often do not want to believe in the fact of suicide and present the incident as an accident. It is often, indeed, not easy to determine the cause of death: an overdose of drugs or sleeping pills, a car crashed into a pole or tree, someone got into trouble and threatened a police officer with a weapon (this type of suicide is characterized as suicide with the help of a police officer) and other unclear cases . In one study, when parents of young people who had committed suicide were interviewed, almost all responses contained some form of denial. “Most parents denied the means of committing suicide. It was always an accident: she fell or he was just cleaning the gun. One parent admitted, “I feel ashamed” because her son committed suicide. The denial of death as suicide was due to the parents' efforts to distance themselves from what they called the "dishonor" that suicide brings to their name and family. At a deep psychodynamic level, they denied their involvement, sometimes real and sometimes imagined. These parents simply considered the death to be an accident or a homicide and maintained this opinion for eighteen months after the death and throughout the study.” (70)

We had no doubt that the executioner and the victim were united in one person, in the person of my brother. We couldn't deny the obvious. Starting from the terrible moment when I found out what my brother did, until today I am unraveling the tangle of his mental torment and his fate...

Guilt

People only lose once
And, losing track, they don’t find it.
And a man is visiting you,
He says goodbye and leaves into the night.
And if he leaves during the day,
He still leaves you.
Let's get it back now
While he is crossing the square.

G. Shpalikov

This feeling comes from the premise that we could influence the future and change its course, that we are responsible for the decisions that our loved ones make. There is no need to exaggerate the degree of your influence on the destinies of other people and their decisions.

After my brother's death, I tirelessly taught my parents that we always acted based on our best intentions, including in relation to my brother, and if we sometimes did wrong, then making mistakes is a human quality, and we are human. We are just people. We did not have the gift of foresight, and it never occurred to any of us that my brother could decide to do something like this. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, my brother, in the eyes of my parents, especially my mother, remained a child in need of protection. “If I had talked to him, if you, if father... How could I not have saved him?” - these questions have been accompanying me for five years. My mother asks them, I ask them myself, to be honest, with all my current knowledge about suicide and its causes, the feeling of guilt will always be with me, although in a much more mitigated version than if I didn’t know anything and didn’t write this book.

Don't think that others are judging you. The main thing is to stop punishing yourself. Most people around you understand that you are not to blame for the death of your loved one.

Jeffrey Jackson recounts the stories of two young women who committed suicide after... for long years fight depression. The mother of one forcibly committed her daughter to a psychiatric hospital, the mother of the other refused to place her daughter in the hospital. As a result, the daughters committed suicide, and each mother blamed herself for not doing what the other had done. (72)

Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, in a word, every single one who was touched by the tragedy and who in one way or another came into contact with the deceased, begin to ask themselves what they did not do or did not do as they should, as they could change the course of terrible events. They say that the torment of someone who commits suicide ends with his death, but the endless torment of those who survive begins. The process of self-torture begins, questions to ourselves, a gnawing and soul-corroding feeling of guilt, which is one of the reasons why relatives and friends of suicides immediately fall into the risk group.

In our family there was no denial of the fact of what had happened. No one had any doubt that what happened was entirely planned and carried out by my brother, executioner and victim rolled into one. But how much later we blamed and continue to blame ourselves, how long we remembered the smallest details in relation to those who did not help him, did not advise him. “How could we not guess what he was planning?!”, “How could his friend, a doctor, not warn that Vadik might attempt suicide again?!”, “How could I not run to talk to him, knowing that he is in terrible condition?”, “Why did I tell him this, why didn’t I say that?!”, “Why did dad hardly talk to him?!”, “Why did uncle say all sorts of unnecessary things?”, “Why ex-wife brother told him that he brings only evil to everyone?” etc. and so on.

This is what Comrade Vadika wrote after my brother died:

And remember, I always remember Vadik, I have many photographs of us together: in Baku, and in Moscow, on the beach, on the Arbat. And every time I look, it will pinch, and I think: why, why, why... If I felt it, I would run to call, write, do something to prevent this from happening, but I can’t fix it, Because in letters, on the contrary, I asked for more support, asked, complained about something. And on the phone I was filled with such joy that I couldn’t even talk. How happy he was when he called on January 31, albeit at random... Now I understand that we should have written more and called more often, more often, but we were embarrassed to open up, reveal our feelings. And he loved us all, but he was shy, he was kind and forgiving, he was shy to reveal his kindness and affection.

A suicidal person has a distorted view of reality. What seems solvable to us is seen by them in a completely different way, as problems that have no way out. As someone wisely noted, suicide is the final solution to temporary problems. And in this regard, notes left to loved ones can explain little. Most often, they ask not to blame anyone for their death, claim that everything is hopeless, that there is no other way out, that is, they add even more fog to the deafened consciousness of their relatives. Edwin Shneidman, who has studied literally thousands of notes left by suicides or those who attempted to kill themselves, writes that in a number of notes the following feelings can be clearly identified: hatred of oneself or others, love, shame, fear of an oncoming attack of madness (remember the letter left by Virginia Woolf), or the feeling that others would be better off without them, i.e. the previously discussed feeling of being a burden. (73) In most cases, no notes are left at all. According to statistics, notes are left in one case out of five (74). And this is understandable: the brain of a person deeply immersed in depression does not function at the same level. My brother, as I wrote, told me shortly before the incident that he was not even able to fill out the form, after which I sounded the alarm, and we wanted to take him to a psychiatrist, but he refused. According to the memoirs of Lydia Chukovskaya, Marina Tsvetaeva said shortly before her death: “You cannot imagine to what extent I am helpless. I used to know how to write poetry, but now I’ve forgotten how” (“I’ve forgotten how to write poetry,” I thought, and “it’s probably just her imagination. But still, it’s bad. That’s what happened to Blok... shortly before his death”). (75)...

We can blame ourselves all we want, but the fact remains that people who commit suicide made this choice on their own. Although, it must be added that we can’t talk about choice here in the full sense of the word, since the consciousness of the sufferers was distorted, and they did not adequately perceive reality.

Anger

"It's not fair!" “I can’t come to terms with this!” “Why did this happen to me?!” “How could God allow it?!” This is anger at fate, at God, at doctors or psychotherapists, at loved ones, at oneself, at the deceased, at everything and everyone.

“Anger may be an immediate reaction, but it also plays a necessary role in grieving the deceased. Survivors are often afraid to get angry with their loved ones, fearing that if they start they won't be able to stop, that they will hurt themselves and others, and that others will think they are weak or abnormal. It feels like a betrayal to be angry with the deceased, yet they were angry with him or her when he or she was alive. It is okay to express anger in appropriate ways. Anger doesn't mean love is over. It means that survivors are deeply grieving that their loved one is no longer with them.” (76)

Anger can also be directed at friends who try to help but do so clumsily, and even the most innocent remarks can hurt and anger the grieving person. When Paula D'Arsou lost her husband and 22-month-old daughter in an accident, she was “angry at the women who were married and complained about their husbands without realizing what they had. I was angry at the families that weren't affected like mine. I hated everyone who had what I lost. And then those same thoughts, so difficult, forced me to go down another step. They made me hate myself. “What kind of embittered person am I to have such thoughts? - I reasoned. - Look at you. You're a complete wreck." (77)

I would be lying if I said that we avoided completely understandable feelings of anger, frustration, resentment, irritation, some kind of bitterness against fate, against my brother, against the narrow-minded and stupid remarks of some people around me. “How could he leave us? How could you leave your old parents? He must have been a terrible person! He didn’t care about me and didn’t even say goodbye to me! He didn't need anyone! He didn’t love us...” All these feelings and exclamations were dictated by our grief and were essentially unfair. What do we have to do with it? He suffered alone with his inner demons and died alone...

Depression and despair

Sadness, a sense of defeat and hopelessness often overcome a bereaved person. Sorrow and grief poison his existence. There is no calendar according to which grief should be released. The period that is suitable for some is not suitable for others.

I remember how I went to bed and got up thinking about my brother. This state lasted for quite a long time. Tears flowed for every insignificant reason. When I came to console a neighbor whose husband had suddenly died, I cried, and the neighbor sat with dry eyes, and I guiltily explained to her that my brother had recently died. The same thing happened again when I called to express condolences to my former boss, whose sister had died. The state of deep grief and sadness into which our family plunged is impossible to talk about. My poems dedicated to my brother can give a faint idea of ​​this. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between the feeling of grief, which is completely natural and natural, and the state of depression (see. Detailed description depression is higher). My parents are still grieving, and their grief will remain with them until the end. My concern is to brighten up their existence, although one child will never fill the place in their hearts that the two of us occupied.

Here is what Iris Bolton, author of the book “My Son, My Son...” writes, who, herself a psychotherapist and mother of many children, experienced the loss of a young talented son who committed suicide: “I felt shock, confusion, I was stunned. I felt guilty and responsible for what happened. “It must be my fault,” I said. “This is my defeat. I must be bad." I felt rejected, which led to self-pity. “He preferred death to life with me” can be described this way. The feeling of rejection led to the question: “Why me, Lord? What did I do to deserve this? I felt anger, huge and all-consuming. I was angry at God, at myself, and ultimately at my son. Sometimes I even felt guilty for being so angry. A feeling of inevitable injustice haunted me. I felt ashamed. I asked myself, “What must my friends think about me and our family? How can I see them again? It's so humiliating."

I felt isolated, even when surrounded by people... I felt helpless, weak and lifeless. “I can’t undo the death of my son,” I thought. “I can’t start my life again and I can’t cope with this grief.”

I felt helpless, depressed and ready to commit suicide. The pain gets deeper and deeper. “I can't go on like this. I want to die". (78)

Tears, screams, angry outbursts, loss of consciousness - these reactions can accompany mourners and be repeated in different time. People feel like they are going crazy, that they are losing control of themselves. Some will try to avoid those who remind them of the tragedy, some will withdraw and not want to see anyone, some will have nightmares at night or see the tragedy as if in reality, some will lose interest in life, some will conflict with loved ones. Everyone grieves differently and we need to understand and try to treat each other more carefully, without judging anyone for the supposedly strange manifestation of grief. Feelings cannot be ignored, they need to be poured out, acknowledged by others, people need to be supported in grief.

Stigma: denial of the fact of suicide in the family

I have already written above that many families try to deny and hide the fact of suicide, and therefore statistics regarding suicide are often underestimated. Some sincerely deny and do not want to believe what happened. After all, in the eyes of the wife, admitting what happened would mean that her husband abandoned her; for the mother - that her own son did not need her, which is terribly humiliating. This would mean, as the participants in the tragedy believe, to admit their failure and defeat to the whole world, which, of course, in 99% of cases is completely false and far from reality, but the feelings themselves do not cease to exist.

Therefore, it is not surprising that some families declare a “conspiracy of silence” and do not want to discuss the disaster that happened to them either among themselves or with anyone else. There were cases when, many years later, like steam escaping from a bottle, confessions poured out from people who had tormented and tormented themselves all their lives with this stoically stubborn and useless silence. When I finally decided to go to a support group organized for those whose loved ones committed suicide, under the auspices of the Good Samaritans society, there were people in it who confessed how difficult it was for them to carry around and not reveal their experiences to anyone. about the death of loved ones. Some were silent and tormented for years, tormented and silent...

“From the moment we learned of our daughter's death, I realized that the word suicide had the power to erase her life, flashing her death in neon letters in the brains of her friends and colleagues. In the first days of inconsolable grief, the thought wandered through my mind that I should not tell anyone about her death, so that she would remain alive in the thoughts of those who knew her, forgetting that I had already notified our family and close friends. It was a fabulous wish, invented by me, in order to disappear at least for a moment from the unthinkable reality of her death. If no one acknowledges her death, will she still be alive?

My fantasy disappeared in the cold light of the following days. I knew we would never dishonor Rhonda's memory by covering up her suicide. I wrote a letter to friends and family informing them of the events leading up to her death. I hoped my letter would calm the inevitable rumors by openly acknowledging her depression and her decision to take her own life. I begged them to talk to us about her often and openly; to do otherwise would be to deny its existence.

In his revealing book Unlocking Secrets, the great theologian Frederick Buckner describes his father's suicide when the author was a child. The conspiracy of silence imposed on Frederick and his brother left a deep imprint on his development and relationships with family members. “We are sick, and so are our secrets,” Frederick concludes.... Joyce Andrews in the article “Suicide: How Do We Talk About It?” writes: “We, whose children have taken their lives, must do everything possible to get rid of the secrecy and stigma that surrounds their deaths. If we allow this to continue, we will diminish the importance of our children's lives. They deserve better." (79)

Unfortunately, the fear of being judged by others is not always unfounded. Sometimes relatives and friends of the deceased are faced with whispering behind their backs, silent or obvious disapproval of their behavior and accusations against them. Such behavior towards people experiencing similar grief is simply inhumane. They already punish themselves every day!

Our family has always been very open and frank in nature and therefore it was impossible for us from the very beginning to hide and silence a tragedy of this magnitude. This does not mean that now, after years have passed, we are ready to tell everyone about what happened. If strangers When they ask my mother how many children she has, she often only mentions me. It’s too painful and there’s no need to tell strangers about something that can neither be explained nor fully understood.

Immediately after Vadik’s suicide, my mother had the idea of ​​hiding the truth from my children, but now, with the passage of time, I can’t imagine how this would be possible. We talked about him all the time, with children and without children, and I think it is right and this is the best thing that can be advised to those who are suffering from the pain of loss. People need to talk about their grief and cry as much as they want. We need to give them the opportunity to reason and think about this topic as much as they want. No advice like “don’t think about it” helps, but only irritates. I judge from my own experience. I was irritated not only by this advice, but even by the happy willingness of some friends and acquaintances to switch to a “safe” subject of conversation. The feeling of relief that I read on some faces was unpleasant to me, no matter how absurd my own feelings were.

After my brother killed himself, I talked to my parents every day, especially my mom, when we were dating or on the phone. Almost five years have passed, and it is now clear that we are forever crippled by our tragedy. Neither our family nor our relationships will be the same, nothing and no one will restore the old world and the old us.

What did my brother's death mean to me?

It’s hard to talk about my feelings; it was a whole storm, fraying and tormenting. There was resentment towards my brother (of course, he abandoned me and left me to live out my days alone with a load of worries and hardships, with responsibility for loved ones), and anger at myself as a complete idiot who did not see the obvious, an illiterate fool who was unable to help the only one brother, and dissatisfaction with both my parents and husband, who were unable to find the keys to the heart of my beloved brother, and pain and pity for my brother, who clearly experienced inhuman torment before his death, since he decided to do this, and a feeling of the unreality and absurdity of what was happening, that feeling, which Vadik probably wrote about in one of his letters “Heart torn out.” Surprisingly, years later, I came across a poem famous poet, friend of Sergei Yesenin, Anatoly Mariengof from the handwritten collection “After This”. “After this” meant after the tragedy that befell the Mariengof family, when his only, beloved, intelligent, gifted 17-year-old son committed suicide.

there place is not open
maple tree above white vase
my soul is buried there
where is my son buried
everything is of course
denied
the excitement of bitter years
because I'm lying under a vase
walking on the ground

Knowing nothing about this poem, I wrote the lines “my soul is buried where my brother is,” which absolutely authentically conveyed my worldview without any connection with Mariengof’s poems, about which I knew nothing at the time. The writer Vladimir Solovyov later told me about the tragedy of Anatoly Mariengof, to whom I gave my poems about Vadik to read.

I read somewhere that for a brother or sister, the death of a sister or brother contradicts the entire world order that has developed in their minds, in which our brothers and sisters live on this earth while we are alive. They, in addition to husbands and wives, are our natural companions, given to us by God and our parents. It’s wild and unnatural to lose them at any point life path, but it’s especially scary if this loss occurs under circumstances similar to ours...

After Vadik’s death, I had an absurd feeling that he was present everywhere, that his soul/spirit was somewhere nearby and was watching all my actions, approving or condemning them. Whether a bird sat next to him, or a butterfly fluttered - everything seemed to be news about him, some kind of Sign signifying his invisible presence.

Feeling of physical pain. The feeling of being punched in the gut, of hitting where it hurts most and most intimately. I read that bereaved people often complain of physical pain, as if they were experiencing symptoms of an illness. Doctors are aware of this pattern and are not surprised. I, too, remember going to the doctor and complaining of pain in the heart area. Was the pain physical or metaphysical? More likely the second than the first.

I always loved my brother, but until the moment of my loss, I had never felt to such an acute degree how much I needed him, what a blessing it was to know that I had a brother, how important his physical presence in the world was, even if not next to him. me. Someone noted that only brothers and sisters understand what it is to live in a certain family, only they are united by a common past and have a wealth of memories that no one in the world can share and understand. The feeling of brotherly and sisterly love is a sacred feeling for me. This is love in its purest form - just a feeling of closeness and a desire for good to your dear being. I have no doubt that my brother loved me, just as I loved and continue to love him. In one of the books about grief and farewell to loved ones, I read that our relationships do not end with the death of our loved ones. My brother will always be with me. My beloved, my only, my Little Prince. When, after the death of my brother, I did not know how to console my grieving parents, my mother and I once went to the city opera house and there we listened to a magnificent production “ The Little Prince" Need I add that we shed tears after the performance...

It seemed absurd to me what happened, a bad dream that seemed to be able to end and everything would be restored as it was. I was annoyed that he died and now deprived me of the opportunity to capitulate to life, chained me, like Sisyphus, to my lot, and that from now on I was doomed to grow old, get sick, endure losses, and he would forever remain young and not knowing about anything bad things the future might bring.

I was scheduled to speak at one of the Brooklyn libraries, which was supposed to take place a few days after Vadik’s death. Of course, this performance was cancelled.

Once I saw Vadik in a dream, festive table. Taking him aside, literally like a churchman branding a sin, I declared: “You did it.” When I woke up, I repentantly realized that I didn’t ask him a question or ask for forgiveness, but only, like a prosecutor, branded him with a pointing finger, as in childhood, when I, in solidarity with my parents, accused him of wrongdoing and was indignant...

Recently my mother saw him in a dream and asked why he cut his wrists in Israel. Vadik didn’t answer her...

Vadik’s death forever changed my attitude towards death and personal loss. I began to better understand others suffering from the loss of loved ones. I remembered with horror how inattentive I was at times to my friends and relatives who had suffered personal tragedies, how little I spoke to them about these topics, so intimate and painful.

One of the victims writes about the death of a brother or sister. “I began to think of the grief of a brother or sister as “discounted” grief. ... People worry about grieving parents and pay very little attention to grieving siblings. My “favorite” quote regarding this is “take care of your parents.” I wanted to know who was supposed to take care of me, but I couldn't ask.

Grieving for a sibling may be different from a parent's grief over the loss of a child, but it should not be underestimated. People need to understand that the pain felt by parents who have lost a child is obvious, but the pain of a sister or brother who has lost an irreplaceable friend is also strong. ...The loss of a sister or brother is often their first experience of death young man. Young people think they will live forever." (80)

She is echoed by Elizabeth De Vita-Raeburn, the author of a book who wrote about her brother, who died as a boy from a serious illness. “...it is difficult for me to understand why the loss of a brother or sister for a long time was considered less significant than other losses. Only in the last twenty years has it been recognized as a trauma approaching the loss of a parent or child. Still, despite the efforts of some experts, many of whom have themselves lost a sister or brother and are prompted to conduct research to answer their own questions, the idea is not universally accepted. Although approximately 25% of Americans have lost a sibling, this loss is overshadowed by the loss of a parent's child. When an adult dies, the loss is overshadowed by the losses suffered by the deceased's spouse and children... When asked about my brother, with the best of intentions, the sympathizer would shake his head and say, “How terrible that must be for you.” parents." (81)

When Elizabeth's brother died, she was a girl and tried to behave well so as not to upset her parents, but in fact she had serious problems which she hid from everyone. Elizabeth seemed to “freeze” her grief, since no one around her noticed how she was suffering, and she herself did not notice how she hid all her deep feelings for her brother and the memory of him in a “closet” and continued to pack this “closet” until until it could no longer contain the contents and was literally bursting at the seams from the pressure. It was then that Elizabeth began seeing a psychotherapist and slowly but surely was able to get to the roots of her difficult internal state and discover that the reason for this was that she did not “grieve” the death of her brother, that those around her did not see her as a person who had huge loss, and that this lack of recognition of the significance of the loss had an indirect effect on her and she turned a blind eye to how deeply the family tragedy affected her. A difficult and painful healing process began, the result of which was the book, an excerpt from which I cited above.

How to explain suicide to children? You can tell them that the person was sick, he had a mental illness that made him not want to live. We shouldn’t think that by hiding what happened from our children, we are “protecting” them. Children sense lies and falsehood, and you cannot deceive them. You just need to let them know that their loved one was not bad person, but his choice was bad. Let me emphasize once again that we can’t talk about choice here in the full sense. Rational choice and search for alternatives is possible for a healthy mind. Suicidal individuals are in such a state that they do not see alternatives to their terrible decision. This doesn't mean there aren't alternatives. As long as a person is alive, there is hope. With his death, all hope ends.

We clearly felt this in the example of my brother. How we dreamed that he would have a family, that he would work, find peace and prosperity, and have his own home. His parents imagined how he would drive around in his own car or open his own business. They were ready to help him in every possible way with this and talked to him about these topics several times. With his death all hopes ended...

It is impossible to convey the grief of my parents. My mother closed herself off and literally didn’t want to see anyone, my dad, so cheerful and cheerful, also changed and grieved in his own way. My mother, who was approaching her 70th birthday in May 2004, said that she would not celebrate it and, indeed, we did not celebrate this day, only my relatives congratulated my mother, and I gave her a ring with a black stone. To this day, my mother refuses to go to celebrations and anniversaries organized by friends and acquaintances of my parents. And dad doesn’t want to go without her...

If those who want to commit suicide think even for a minute that their departure will be a relief for their loved ones and everything will be better without them, then they are mistaken and nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how difficult it may be with loved ones who have problems, without them it is immeasurably worse. The familiar world is collapsing, often even families are collapsing, unable to cope with the burden of guilt and mutual accusations, they remain broken hearts under the wreckage of a shipwreck...

Acceptance: Myths and Facts

“We can’t change anything”, “Everything is in God’s hands.” Ultimately, we all come to this point, but through what pain? As Iris Bolton said, there comes the “understanding that you will never be the same, but your life will go on, and with it the search for meaning and purpose.” (82)

Jeffrey Jackson argues that (83) accepting what happened is similar to the process of separating myths from facts. Here are some examples he gives.

A MYTH we must reject is a FACT we must accept.

I would like to quote an excerpt from a letter from Comrade Vadik, written recently, when almost five years had passed since the death of my brother.

All our relatives, loved ones, friends - they are next to us, Lilya. After all, that’s why we go to their cemetery, remember them, meeting together: “Vadik said”, “Do you remember...”. These memories never get boring and never end. For me, if before Vadik went far away to America and it was possible to talk only by phone, now he is simply somewhere further away. And you can talk to him while quietly getting drunk alone at home, or getting caught up in memories with your comrades in arms... Vitalik is always - you can see from him - very worried, but he is silent, silent is difficult, and after drinking, he screams, waving his hands: “Why didn’t he come here? “... Well, he didn’t come, sooner or later, we’ll come to him... But it just doesn’t fit that this could have an effect on Vadik - after all, he’s not weak at all, there were so many difficult, sad, offensive things that happened... After all, how- then they got out, forgot, got distracted... M.b., loneliness? M.b., there are problems with Kharkov...Tima talked about trying to do it himself...but I can’t believe it, well, it doesn’t fit. And in his letters nothing was felt...

When I come to the cemetery in Pokrov, I talk with my mother, with Gena, and I believe that they hear and we are not left alone... Because new flowers bloom there every spring. When I'm alone, I talk to Vadik - after all, they talk to us when we dream?

Boy with a wooden sword
The story of a sister who survived her brother's suicide

Liana Alaverdova

Collector of Life

Who said that the end of the world will come at once? This can be a limited or very, very extended process in time of the death of all living things.

Drawing by Alexey Merinov

What did Jules Verne predict?

As a child, I came across the book “The Fate of the Scientific Foresights of Jules Verne.” It talked about how brilliantly the writer predicted the introduction of technical innovations in human life. Since then, I have often thought about these truly amazing predictions.

But what has a much greater effect on me today is not the technical insight of an undoubtedly outstanding science fiction writer, but the everyday pictures captured in his books. It was these fleeting, so to speak, hidden details and sketches between scientific insights, illustrating man’s relationship to nature, that turned out to be much more insightful. The most famous novel“Mysterious Island”: five travelers and a dog find themselves on an unknown piece of land lost in the ocean. This is a true paradise, it has everything: a wonderful lake, a deep river, an abundance of animals and birds that existed in complete harmony before the arrival of man. What are the aliens doing? They begin to exterminate the world- and not only for the sake of food and survival or for the sake of its scientific study, but just like that. A 15-meter snake turned up, and it was also not poisonous; it was killed. Dozens of eggs are removed from bird nests. The high shore of the lake is being blasted to lower the water level. Everything is easy, simple, playful and fun. Without thinking about the consequences of his invasion. Without realizing what they are destroying unique world. Pioneers, discoverers, heroes... They are allowed (they allowed themselves) to behave as they please. There is plenty of everything around... So why and what to regret?

Fulfilled prophecies

The prophecies of the ancient sages are coming true: times are coming when there will be no place left for people on the planet. Chernobyl, the tragedy at the nuclear power plant in Japan, harmful wastewater that poisoned the waters of rivers and seas... Local and widespread incidents sharply narrow the possibility of human existence... One city will die out, then another... The population will move towards uninfected spaces... But where can he escape from the invisible, everywhere-penetrating radiation sickness?

The planet is great - but there is nowhere to go on it! The seas are poisoned. The oceans are contaminated. Where to fish and drinking water? There are huge landfills everywhere, the infection from which spreads throughout the entire earth... Epidemics and diseases emanating from these landfills...

People themselves are reducing the areas of their salvation - they are destroying forests, destroying medicinal herbs.

Fairy tale

“You people need me! - exclaimed the crocodile. “You can use my skin to make high-strength belts and cool shoes!”

His request was heard.

Following the crocodile, the frogs croaked: “You need us, people!”

Both the life of the frogs and their place in the evolutionary chain of survival were preserved - in exchange for the culinary and delicacy component of their bodies.

The snails followed the example of the croaking brethren. And they also survived - having managed to prove that they are fit to be present on the restaurant table.

Not all animals have the strength and ability for full-scale self-reproduction for the needs of the kitchen, but only in this way, on the basis of inequality, do they have a chance to survive.

At someone else's expense

A person prospers at someone else's expense. When I see how well-fed, well-fed, and calm people live, carelessly drinking coffee on the verandas of restaurants, and sparkling clean cars running along the highways, I can’t help but think: how many forests had to be cut down, how many animals had to be destitute, how many of them had to be skinned and skinned, how many did you have to be shot to dress up in fashionable fur coats and smell exquisite aromas?

Crab

Before the start of the tourist season in Cyprus, tractors rake up algae washed ashore during winter storms. They are stacked in large stacks and taken away on trucks, perhaps to the fields, as fertilizer.

A small crab emerged from one such stack, barely moving its paws. It was all twisted, twisted by a huge bulldozer scraper, the claws were broken off. Almost crushed, along with sand and heavy wet plants, it is unclear how he survived and managed to crawl out from under their pile. But when the tractor began to approach him again, the crab rose on its hind legs and took a fighting stance, ready to fight for life to the last. It was touching and hopeless. The stupid machine didn’t even notice his heroic efforts and finally crushed him into future compost.

Homeless

An animal whose house was destroyed, whose burrow was destroyed... How many of them are there! They cut down a forest plot, but before that, did they calculate how many birds and animals were deprived of their shelter? And so they, destitute, rush to take refuge in the thicket, but everything there has long been divided and distributed among other inhabitants of the forest. And clashes begin over a piece of land for herbivores, over hunting grounds for predators. And the loggers move on, freeing new spaces from the thickets. They, these cutters, could only imagine for a moment that they would return home after working weeks and months - but there were no houses. How would they continue cutting down after this if they felt themselves in the place of homeless animals? But they lack imagination. And those who have more than it, rush around the planet in search of a green untouched island of forest, taiga, jungle... But no - trees, animals, birds are being destroyed everywhere. Humans give birth and protect their young, while the young of other living beings are doomed to death.

It is when the fish go to spawn, covering the northern rivers in several layers, that they begin to be caught for their caviar. Easy prey! The military adjusts the equipment, blocks the river and literally scoops up the fish - like water. They gut and pickle the caviar in jars. Then, without eating, they store too much and throw it in the trash.

But how should a fish that cannot help but spawn feel when it realizes that it is dying? Having failed to fulfill its purpose. What if pregnant women were caught like this and not allowed to give birth? Were you pulled out of maternity hospital wards?

Bullet

Animals do not understand that they can be killed from a distance. And the person does not fully understand, although the target has already been chosen and is at gunpoint. He doesn't understand what he's doing. But if it is already prescribed to kill for food or pleasure, is it not possible to make this process more gentle? No, they harpoon, take them to the place of collective executions, force those waiting in line to watch their relatives die...

And at the same time, how much food is not bought, not eaten, or thrown away! IN big cities It is difficult to calculate by eye the amount of food consumed; it is prepared for future use and in obviously larger quantities than required. Cows, sheep, octopuses and squids are killed in vain.

From childhood

A friend invited me to the pond. It was a small, rather swamp, covered with duckweed. He caught and blew the frog through a straw. The frog stared, not understanding what was being done to it. The living creature did not understand why someone, undoubtedly stronger and more powerful, needed to do something unimaginable over her? But what could she do? She was at the mercy of two-legged and two-armed gods. And for some reason they needed to do what they did on her.

I waited to see what he would do next. Will he throw her back into the pond or step on her? And it will burst like an inflated bag. This creature no longer belonged to itself. It belonged to us. But I could change something. I first began to ask him to release the captive. Then he got into a fight. The frog splashed into the water. What's the point - she couldn't dive. She senselessly moved her webbed paws over the surface. She still wouldn't survive.

Lion and stone

Do animals have generosity? I watched a family of lions at the zoo. He and she, enclosed in a tight enclosure, lay with their sides touching and did not look at people. People made noise, trying to stir up the couple. One of the visitors picked up and threw a stone at the king of beasts. When the lion raised his head and looked at the offender, only disdain was visible in his gaze. “You put us in a cage,” said this look, “well, here is your level of development, pathetic bipeds...”

Animals understand us better than we understand them.

In the same zoo (private), attackers, in order to annoy its owner, poisoned monkeys and zebras. The animals got it again!

Exterior

If Darwin's theory is correct, then what survival qualities will remain in wild animals that are subjected to the monstrous onslaught of humans? Domestication? Shredding? Inconspicuousness? Homeliness? So that it would be difficult for a bullet to hit a tiny body, and the skin, horns, and exterior would not attract those who like to brag about hunting trophies?

Empty bamboo

In the Nikitsky Botanical Garden near Yalta, despite prohibitory signs hung everywhere, inscriptions like “Vasya was here” were carved out on unique trees with sharp blades. The bamboo is all torn to pieces by such “memos”.

It is forbidden!

Just as it is impossible to remove organ after organ from the human body with impunity (they are all needed for something and exist only in a harmonious unity), so it is impossible to consistently uproot and completely destroy plants, microorganisms, animals, and insects from the surrounding world.