„Us“ in terms of „Them“

By Oksana Lebedivna on November 19, 2018

She believes there is a difference between what goes on the outside and what goes inside. 

‘Them’ towards ‘Us’ (*by the way, a poem below has it’s original author):

That’s not the conflict

That’s stealing the languages

Cultures

Territories of other countries

That’s not a conflict.

That’s stealing futures

Pasts

That’s not the conflict

That’s stealing peace,

Safety

Lives of people

That is not a conflict

That is the weight of guilt

That we are going to feel whole our life

‘Us’ may associate ‘Them’ with threat to it’s emotional and geographical well-being, and ‘They’ may keep saving the identity of the empire. Nevertheless, she believes a border between the ‘executor’ and ‘victim’ is flexible.

‘We’ is sitting in one of the cottage bedrooms. ‘They’ handles their class in a living room of ‘Us’. ‘They’ has been supposed to finish an hour ago. But ‘They’ is still here. It’s cold outside, and ‘We’ really needs to get into the living room to make some tea. ‘We’ starts feeling oppressed. It reminds ‘Us’ all how ‘They’ treats an idea of territorial rights of others

A girl of ‘Us’ holds a girl of ‘Them’ who is crying. She approaches her with her arms open, tells her kindly and respectfully that she’s wonderful and she doesn’t need to feel gilty any more. She hugs her tightly. She promises to be there if she needs her, and suddenly, she accepts ‘Us’ in herself with all her heart.  

Oksana Lebedivna

She lives in Kyiv and loves “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare and “Ulysses” by James Joyce / Homer. I am currently studying for Ph.D. in historical phonology of Ukrainian at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. As it turned out, I also do a translation from Polish to Ukrainian. I have an overwhelming desire to understand her reading Joys and Shakespeare. But I’m not always getting her point well. Believe me, I’m not kidding you.

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