Sergei Kourdakov, a former KGB agent and Soviet naval intelligence officer, defected from the USSR at the age of twenty. A year later we met at my Federal Government office in Washington DC. We were watched and followed. “Even you could be spy,” Sergei whispered. My book, A Rose for Sergei, is the true story of our time together.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Can You Keep A Secret?


It seems that no one knows how to keep a secret these days.  Today we are inundated with technology.  Everyone wants to be the first to know something, the first to post on Facebook, the first to Tweet, Instagram or Pin It – the faster the better.  Electronic gossiping/sharing is addicting across the board, no matter how young or how old you are.  You can get hooked peeking into someone else’s life.  Today, one simple text between friends is immediately public knowledge.  The art of keeping a secret is unknown to this generation who thrives on instant feedback. 
 
How does this topic tie into my forthcoming book, A Rose for Sergei?  The fact that I am finally writing about Sergei Kourdakov 40 years later is hard for many to grasp.  It is especially hard for the “right now” generation.
 
I will say that there were a few instances immediately after Sergei’s death that I did try to talk about him.  If a person was unfamiliar with his story, I found it raised a lot of questions.  I couldn’t just say “he died mysteriously.”  People wanted to know the whole story and I didn’t know the whole story.  I found it easier to say nothing because it was heart breaking.
 
It was my choice to keep this story close to my heart . . . and so I did.  Keeping something private was also easier to do at that time.  It was before cell phones, personal computers, and the Internet.  It was a time before instant sharing, reality TV and blogging.  It was a time when you knew how to keep a secret. 
 
 
 

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