Two of us are alone in the world: me (“the last of the Mohicans,” as there are no more Vizniuras left on the planet) and my little pussycat Murka, one of humanity’s younger sisters, who is blind from old age. Well, this is not exactly so. Our tiny family includes a family friend, too – that is, Den/The Day newspaper!
I remember my first encounter with Den/The Day as lively as I do my first date. It happened at a mobile newsstand on the dark, overcrowded platform of the railroad station Kyiv North on May 31, 2002.
I remember our first talk, too: Water from Thundery Rains, or Ukrainian Features of the “Paustovsky Country.” Yes, we talked about Paustovsky, my favorite author... And when I heard his stanzas about “lazy and lush, authentic Ukrainian clouds that were stopping in the sky above the ravine in Horodyshche” mentioned as an argument in favor of the author’s love of Ukraine – my heart told me: “This is your newspaper!” Thus, even before turning the page, I felt myself confessing my love to it. Later on, it has got permanent residence permit at my home, and we have been living together in love and fidelity for 10 years already.
I never betrayed it under any circumstances since, despite being in dire straits sometimes... I recall there was time, long ago, when I stepped on local strongmen’s toes, and they responded with taking me by the throat (through putting me on half-pay). I had to confront an extreme dilemma: what should I buy – new shoes or subscription to Den/The Day? And, even though my old shoes’ soles were already so holey that my socks were “kissing” asphalt, I was reckless lover, and so I chose... of course, Den/The Day! Now I am laughing when recalling those days... But what was my situation at the time? My shoes were “mined,” I had two weeks to live before my next salary payment, and 50 hryvnyas bill was as lonely in my pockets as I was in the world... To hide the holes, I shuffled my shoes like a skater on ice. But what was I to do when rain fell? My insoles were like a sponge, they took plenty of water and left lasting wet traces. These weird traces hypnotized and dumbfounded cleaners. But I always had my antidepressant with me: it was good humor coupled with Den/The Day, a good newspaper, for Den/The Day is “a moveable feast.”
Every time I pick Den/The Day up, I see on top of the logo the newspaper’s invisible motto and creed: “Intellectuals of the world, unite!” Well, maybe, it is not the world, but Ukrainian intellectuals certainly are appealed to. For only the intelligentsia, whose voice Den/The Day is, can realize (along Andrei Sakharov’s lines, more or less): “To survive, Ukraine has to overcome its divisions.” And for this, as Larysa Ivshyna said at Den/The Day roundtable in Lviv, “we need active intellectual action, not confrontation.”
“Journalism is an angelic craft,” said prominent French journalist Genevieve Taboui. Why it is so? I got it when I was left without help, face to face with corporate solidarity of the bureaucratic Evil. If not for my kind guardian angels, journalists Halyna Dmytriienko of the National Radio, Svitlana Martynets from Lviv, and Dmytro Ivantsiv from Kalush, I doubt whether I would be alive and strong today. And then, having become acquainted with Den/The Day, I have learned not only to defend myself, but also repulse the Evil with reason.
To cut out some articles out of Den/The Day and cripple it by this action, my friend as it is, would be a sacrilege for me. Thus, I keep my intellectual treasure in a dedicated room, and compile Den/The Day’s directory, so as to not get lost among these riches. This directory will be the most persuasive argument for the newspaper’s potential subscribers, for I will fill my backpack with copies of Den/The Day and “go to the people,” first of all, to our youth, with fall beginning. The motto of my “mission” is: “If you want to get acquainted with the wise and decent people of Ukraine and the world and to learn wisdom on your own, then read Den/The Day! Buy Den/The Day! Subscribe to Den/The Day!”
I ask the newspaper’s friends – bring Den/The Day to your workplace, on vacation, anywhere... Show it, talk about it. The more of us who read Den/The Day, the better it is for us, because “together we are many – we cannot be defeated!”
And more to it – if you live away from your parents, give them subscription to Den/The Day as a gift. It will be the daily warm reminder of you for them, easing pain of separation.
Ah, how little one really needs to be happy... Sun is shining, Den/The Day lies on the table, and my cat Murka is purring nearby…
Go, little Murka! What Den/The Day brings to us today? How is learning process going at its Summer School of Journalism where future “gold pens” of Ukraine are aspiring to fly high? Your “journalistic offspring” is my delight. They are worthy of their teachers, they will grow up, take-off and restore the global reputation of Ukraine. I know the powerful potential of young people, as I am working with them. So I am not that lonely. I am happy, very happy man!
Yet, everything ends... Some day, my old cat will lick my hand for the last time, stroke my cheek with her paw, wave farewell with her fluffy tail and depart into eternity... Alright, I will have Den/ The Day with me even then... Even when Chronos will tell me “It is time!” – and I will die... Den/The Day will never die, as well as Ukraine, because both of you have something “immortal inside.”
May God’s Grace be with you, dear editor Ivshyna and your entire staff, and all contributors of Den/The Day, as well as with all those who had worked for Den/The Day and will work in the future. “Life is beautiful, and it is worth fighting for!”
Thank you, Den/The Day! Thank you very much!
Yurii Vizniura is a veteran of labour of Ukraine, longtime schoolchildren’s doctor in the town of Kalush, volunteer for the Children’s Joy campaign
