Bear Witness
Can you describe this? And I said, I can.
During Stalin's Great Terror, Akhmatova stood for seventeen months in the prison lines outside Leningrad, waiting for news of her arrested son. A woman beside her, lips blue from cold, recognized the poet and asked in a whisper if she could ever put their suffering into words. Akhmatova's answer, spoken quietly among frightened strangers, became the seed of Requiem and a private vow to tell the truth no matter the cost. It shows that integrity often starts small, as a single honest word said when silence would be safer.
Reflection
Akhmatova's vow to bear witness began with one honest word spoken under threat. What is one honest thing I can say today?