In Times of Isolation, Kind Souls Will Offer Support: My Experience in the Gulag
During my nine years in a Soviet gulag, I experienced profound loneliness.
At that time, incarcerated in a Soviet prison, communication with other human beings was forbidden for years.
Despite the restrictions, we found ways to connect with each other through various risky methods such as tapping Morse code on walls and shouting into toilets in hopes of being heard through the pipes.
However, I never truly felt alone, as I knew there were others like me in my country, Israel.
Knowing that a free country like America existed, with a president like Ronald Reagan who denounced the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” gave me hope.
Witnessing the current support for Hamas from the Western world has left me and Israel feeling more isolated than ever.
Similar to the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, I question how universities, once havens of free thought, are now filled with supporters of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, spreading antisemitic lies without consideration.
It’s disheartening to see the United Nations staff participating in violence against Jews and world leaders failing to support Israel against common threats. This sense of isolation can lead one to despair for the future of Western civilization.
Despite these challenges, Lévy reminds us that standing up for justice is often a solitary but necessary task, with the hope that others will eventually join the fight.
Although change may not come swiftly, justice always prevails in due time.
In these trying times, it’s essential to remember that truth will prevail and loneliness is not eternal.
Natan Sharansky is a former political prisoner in the Soviet Union, an Israeli government minister, and co-author (with Gil Troy) of “Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People.”
