Letter from Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Like many people in the world, New Year's holidays have been my favorite since childhood. Christmas tree, gifts, fireworks - a winter miracle. At first, its creators were my grandparents, my dad and mom. Then everything changed naturally - I became a dad, then a grandfather. The understanding of the holiday has also changed - now it is when you can do a miracle yourself and rejoice in the joy of others, feeling like a small part of the hand of a good God.

I was very lucky - I was never alone: ​​a loving family, friends, many people, acquaintances and completely unknown ones, supported me in difficult times.

But it already happened that I had a chance to look at life from its “wrong side”. In prison and before it, in the difficult years, I came to the conclusion that it was not poverty itself that was more terrible, but loneliness. Especially the loneliness of children and the elderly.

I have been to orphanages and nursing homes. Not all of them are the same, unhappy people do not live everywhere, but what we call “ordinary”, “social”, where the sick and abandoned are kept, is a terrible test for the nerves of a normal person.

I am unable to find a reasonable explanation for how this is possible in our now far from poor country. I am not able to explain why it is painful to collect money from the world “by thread” for the treatment of children who can be cured. I cannot explain how our political elite, having adopted a vile budget that does not guarantee life, health and proper care even for them, is now, for its political purposes, depriving children of the hope of finding a family. When this happens, it is difficult to fight heavy, fierce hatred...

But for those who are now lonely and unhappy, what is more important is our love, our ability to do even a small miracle for them.

Lonely old people and lonely children. Remember them. The ability and readiness for kindness and compassion are the real “brace” for our society, which we have not yet become, but which we want to be.

Happy New Year to you all.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky