Letter from the Gulag II
Points of Guidance
Good morning,
Today will be short. Subsisting in purgatory is the cruelest of punishments, and I suspect that is why death row inmates must wait a decade or so before their execution. Waiting is a condition of bureaucracy where power is featured and wielded in both its silence and dictations. Sure, justice is slow, but the correct question is for whom?
So with that, I’ll leave you with this. Taken from A Gentleman in Moscow, the following are some insights that, as a man placed on house arrest by the Bolsheviks for the rest of his life, Rostov pens to his daughter:
If one does not master one’s circumstances, he is bound to be mastered by them.
The surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness.
I should be incredibly sad in your absence, but I’ll be full of joy thinking of all the adventures you’ll have.
Earnestly yours,