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| Pettson & Findus by Sven Nordqvist (postcard) |
Back in mid March, in the Postcrossing 'lottery' I drew an address in Russia. PC has a 'postal monitor' that keeps track of which countries don't send or receive mail (for reasons of war or corona or whatever); but back then, Sweden had not yet stopped sending mail to Russia. A week or so later, that changed.
On their profile, the person had added apologies "for what is done by my country" but also said that with the motto "people should talk to people" s/he had decided to go on with postcrossing, hoping s/he wouldn't be shut up.
I sent the postcard above (chosen based on the person's wish-list), although in doubt whether it would ever reach its destination. I kept the message neutral.
Today I got a Postcrossing email that the card had been received:
A reminder that not everyone in the country is behind the actions by their government.
That is quite incredible that your postcard reached it's destination! I think that there are many Russians who don't agree with what is being done to Ukraine, in their name
ReplyDeleteWe have quite a lot of Russians living on the Costas, and many of them have brought their huge, expensive, Russian registered cars with them. One part of their registration plate - as you will probably know, bears the letters RUS. The other day in a local car park there was a car with a Russian plate, but over the RUS was a blue and yellow Ukraine flag. I hope it was a genuine sentiment and not to stop the car being vandalised.
CG, I was surprised myself when I got confirmation that this postcard had arrived and had not even taken longer than normal to travel.
DeleteWell done in providing someone with a message from the "normal world" and probably given them a reason to smile :-)
ReplyDeleteMany, many more will feel like your postcrossing partner does. The majority of people simply wish to go about their daily lives, not engage in a war.
Meike, it also makes me wonder what info from other countries is getting through to the "normal people" living there, vs what is being censored.
DeleteAnything that maintains normalcy between people of goodwill is welcome and laudable in this awful world of war, murder, rape, slaughter, aggression and environmental destruction.
ReplyDeleteDavid, keeping up normal relations even between "normal people" across the east/west borders will no doubt keep getting harder as well, as long as the war lasts.
DeleteThat was a very good human gesture which worked! I don't know that I would have been able to do so, at least now when I consider the cyber attacks happening.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I thought of my great-aunt Gerda and her postcards sent from France to her family in Sweden during WWI (I know you read those posts on my other blog): She tried all kinds of tricks, hoping that at least some cards would get through: writing in Swedish, writing in English, managing to send some via Switzerland, etc - and avoiding any political comments.
DeleteYour post and the comments on it are very interesting and a good reminder that for so many there is no love for the horrors of war which their leaders have led them into.
ReplyDeleteGraham, yes, I feel the need to remind myself of that as well!
Deletewow, I am surprised they let it go through... this is a great story and will become a fond memory
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra. Yes, it was encouraging to get the confirmation that it got through and that it was not pointless to send it. I don't expect to given any more Russian or Belarusian addresses for a while now as Sweden is now listed as suspending mail to/from those countries.
DeleteA good reminder, too! The people and the government are not the same!
ReplyDeleteGinny, yes - sometimes one has to remind oneself that this applies even to democracies.
DeleteIf my country's leader was acting like a twit I'd be most apologetic too, nice to know someone's not proud of Putin.
ReplyDeleteAmy, considering the size of the population, there are probably many millions who don't...
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