First Grain of Sand — Page 169
CONFRONTING SOVIET LEADERSHIP 153 teaches me that there is One God not just for me but for all people. That God is like a father, and we are all like His children. That is why we are all brothers as we are the same creation of God who is like a Father to us. After completing my thought, one officer sitting in front of me asked me where I learned to speak the Russian language. I said I learned in the Ashgabat and Tashkent prisons. I addressed them in Russian, saying Я не понимаю почему я здесь [pronounced ya ne ponimayu pochemu ya zdes, meaning 'I don't understand why I'm here']. With that, I meant to convey that I didn't know why they kept me in prison and in the hospital. Since my knowledge of Russian was limited, I then turned their attention to the matter of my freedom. When the conversation ended and I got up to go back to my room, all the officers stood up as well. Some of them even went so far as to shake my hands. One lady officer also extended her arm to shake my hand, but I withdrew my hand. She asked me the rea- son for not shaking her hand, and I said Потом плохо работает [pronounced potom plokho rabotayet, meaning later it doesn't work well'] to convey that it does not end well [when men and women shake hands]. After this, the soldier took me back to my room, which was on the first floor of the hospital. If they wanted, they could have shot me dead for my rudeness to their beloved leader who had founded the Bolshevik party and for whom they had a great deal of respect in their heart. But my Lord, Who is the Ruler of rulers and in Whose possession is the entire universe, put it in their heart that