If You Believe Just One Thing

Proof.  We learn from teachers that we must show our work to support how we get to a certain point.  We follow through with this mandate in the business world.  We all want to see the evidence that backs up a statement.  Without proof . . . we question validity, and hence truthfulness.

My friends ask why I posted the personal photos of Sergei Kourdakov and me on my blog.  “I had no choice,” I quietly tell them.  “How else would people believe I knew Sergei and believe my story.”  I knew the photos were the proof that some people needed to see—physical evidence is convincing.

Sergei and I were seated side-by-side, alone in my apartment, when he told me about his life in the Soviet Union and his daring escape to freedom.  I knew from the manner in which he spoke to me that his story was not just something he made up.  I saw and felt the sadness in Sergei’s eyes.  I saw him.  One of my favorite authors, Orest Stelmach, explained it better in his most recent book, The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark:  “A woman knew a man’s intentions based on the look in his eyes, his body language around her, his manner of speech.”

I always knew that Sergei was telling me the truth.  If you believe just one thing in Sergei’s book, The Persecutor,* believe that something miraculous happened in his life.

*Sergei Kourdakov wrote one book which was published under three different titles:

The Persecutor
Forgive Me, Natasha
Sergei