THOSE WEARY DAYS AND DREARY NIGHTS

 4450

I have interacted with a multitude of people on my Facebook page over the past fifteen years. But, I think I have never experienced any person, or any circumstance like the following account which occurred a couple of years ago.

Among my foreign social media friends, I somehow met and messaged a twenty something Ukrainian woman several times.

As I recall now, Anna lived in the capital city of Kiev; a location which, though not in the very thick of the land battles which plagued Ukraine, it has, at times, suffered air assaults by cruise and ballistic missiles, and drones. 

And during the weary days and dreary nights the city was under attack, Anna and I continued to correspond, (though I have, admittedly, forgotten the topics of our exchanges). However, I am by nature an encourager, and I presume we discussed any number of things, including the war, and the fear which permeated her life.

Ultimately, Anna managed to migrate to Poland, and from there to Great Britain.

At some point she messaged me again from London, (or some other city in England), and began to reminisce about those deadly encounters with missiles and drones, as she sat cowering in the local subway, or municipal building basement on a recurring basis.

"Dr. Bill, you have no idea how much your words encouraged me during those long and lonely nights when missiles were falling all around us, and when my neighbors and I might have died at any moment. You were there with me when fear and anxiety threatened to overwhelm me!"

(and)

"Thank you, my friend."

If my entire life had been mundane and uneventful, if I had somehow failed to make a difference in a solitary life 'til then, it would be enough to have "merely" encouraged my friend, Anna, and helped bring her safely through that awful war which raged around her.

by Bill McDonald, PhD