Examples from life where there is a strong spirit. Strong in spirit: people who have overcome their limitations

On March 11, a large-scale festival “Without Borders: Body, Society, Culture”, timed to coincide with the Paralympics, starts in Moscow. It is organized by the social project “BezGranits”, which deals with problems of perception of disability in society. According to the organizers, the point of this festival is to attract as many people as possible to an open, intelligent conversation about the body and disability in the modern world.

P.S.: Our experience shows that sometimes this short story It’s easier to write if you ask your neighbor (or yourself) these questions - but, of course, you can do without them.

1. What happened? How and under what circumstances did your body change?

2. What was the most important thing in your life up to this point?

3. What was happening inside you, in your mind, when you realized that the situation had changed forever?

4. What did your loved ones do?

5. How did you start putting yourself back together?

6. How did you have to change your life?

7. How did you get to where you are now?

8. What should people - any people - understand about their bodies?

Elena Leontyeva

Age: 53 years

What happened: spinal fracture

What he does: Accessibility expert

Elena Leontyeva

In 1988, I broke my spine. At that moment I was studying in graduate school and preparing to defend my dissertation, teaching at the institute. When all this happened... I really wanted to commit suicide. Imagine energetic person who was paralyzed. They turn you over like a log every two hours to prevent bedsores. It seems like life will always be like this. When I asked how long I would be in the hospital, they told me: “Two months.” I thought: “How can you lie in bed for two months?” It turned out not two, but nine. But at the same time, I began to understand how lucky I had always been to have friends: for example, they donated blood for transfusions, they set a schedule and were on duty at the hospital in the first days, until my parents arrived from another city. The patients around me were constantly changing - together with the next patient with a spinal injury, whom the ambulance brought, I had to relive the whole nightmare of the situation each time. But one day a girl was admitted for a second operation. She was in a wheelchair, but she did everything herself, without anyone’s help: she cooked food, did laundry, helped the bedridden. And she always smiled. It turned out that she had a husband and two children. Suddenly, looking at her, I realized that you can live a full life in a wheelchair.

After leaving the hospital, I began to look for people like me. Few people knew about people with disabilities back then. There was no Internet, no necessary information, everyone survived on their own. It was at this time that the All-Russian Society of Disabled People was created. I called and through them began to meet people in a similar condition. Every day I did restorative physical training, read books about disabilities, of which there were very few at that time, and all the time I dreamed of an independent life. I was sure that this was impossible, that I had a wonderful past, but no future. However, soon I met my future husband at a local rehabilitation center - and we decided to live on our own, in a room in a communal apartment. It took a year to adapt to independent life. It was very helpful that although my husband used a wheelchair, he could walk around the apartment on crutches. For example, he could reach the top shelves of a closet. When we got street strollers, we began to leave the house and make forced marches around the city, each time moving further and further from home. Then we passed our license, a “Zaporozhets” appeared in the family, and we got out of the communal apartment. When we moved to a separate one-room apartment in 1993, I told my husband: “A family cannot exist without children.” I gave birth to a son, he will soon be 20 years old.

One day they called me from the institute and asked me short biography- they say, what have you achieved in life? And I sit and think: nothing special. But on the other hand, in my everyday life I break stereotypes about disability - why not do some good by doing just that, and make it my mission? I decided to start creating an accessible environment in the city. For example, I collected signatures near the nearest grocery store for installing a ramp. Just at this moment the municipal program “Disabled” was launched. I united the children in wheelchairs and said: “Let’s go talk to the authorities. We and they need it.” We took the text of the program, read it and said: “At this point, at this point, and at this point, we can work together.” We started working. And we work.

You need to understand that God created man, but did not create spare parts for him. Now, for example, I don’t understand people involved in extreme sports. If you are ready to break your back, that is your right, but you also need to think about how much grief this will bring to your loved ones.

Alena Volokhova

Age: 36 years old

What happened: I lost an arm and a leg

What she does: mother of two children, founder and vice-president of the “Fulfilling Life” charitable foundation, assistant to the chairman of the board of the ROOI “Equal Citizen”, model

Alena Volokhova

I had an accident in July 2011 and lost my arm and leg. She quickly came to her senses and six months later she was walking down the catwalk like a real model. After that, she took part in a photo exhibition organized by the Katyusha Society for Support of Parents with Disabilities and Members of Their Families. I always have some projects.

Before the accident, like everyone else, I took care of the house, the plot, the garden, the family, and raised two children. And everything was somehow boring - as if I was leading a life that no one wanted. After the accident, my family were so helpless, they clearly did not understand how to deal with me and how to help me, that I myself decided: I have no right to give up. It's already hard for them. I had to pull myself together. For example, I started doing yoga, inventing asanas and kriyas for myself that would be suitable for people with amputations. I started meditating and saw the world with different eyes. Yoga gave me peace and balance. When I finally realized that I was different from others, I decided to turn this difference to my advantage. She told herself: “I am not just a beauty, but a special beauty.” I started walking in a prosthesis without cosmetic coverage and I’m not ashamed of it, but on the contrary - I want as many people as possible to see that there are people like me.

Every day brings another victory. First, I learned to slide down the stairs from the second floor - and turned it into a game with the children. I was going down a roller coaster and everyone was having fun. Then I learned to cook and wash floors with one hand. Now I want to learn how to braid my daughter’s pigtails or at least ponytails with one hand! This will be a victory.

Mike Krutiansky

Age: 26 years old

What happened: a long-term non-healing fracture, forced to use crutches

What he does: yacht skipper, pro-rider

Mike Krutiansky

In 2010, we went to a freeride competition by car. The car skidded, and some metal structure on the side of the road smashed my shin to smithereens. Before that, the main thing in my life was alpine skiing - more precisely, off-piste (freeride) skiing. In the summer - kayaking, in the off-season - rock climbing. For two years I did not believe that the situation had changed forever - after all, it was “just a turning point.” I certainly felt bad, but I worked as hard as I could to recover. Then there was a relapse: due to the severity of the fracture and the terrible first operation at the accident site, the bone did not even heal halfway - and was not going back together. Slowly from that moment on, the process of abandoning what for me was, in fact, life began. Skiing was for me both a profession and the key to socialization and personal life, and most importantly, it gave me a taste for life in general. My loved ones helped and are helping me with all their might and means. But what can they actually do? It all depends on whether you can regain your taste for life and accept new circumstances.

I decided to start making money while lying in bed. Money never hurts. But for me, earning money is one of the most boring and depressing activities; it does not bring even the simplest satisfaction. Then I started studying. Spanish, French. I had to change my whole life. I don’t even remember anything that didn’t have to be changed radically. For example, I had to change my house: before, I lived either with a girl in her apartment, or while traveling - in tents, rented apartments in Europe. I had to move with the girl to my parents so that they could all take turns helping with everyday life. And then I got tired of the endless medical work, from Moscow, from the bed. And I decided to change everything completely, go alone to Israel and try to forget about the old things. Why be afraid if you already live at half capacity? I packed the x-rays into a backpack (I couldn’t roll my suitcase - my hands were full of crutches), a couple of changes of underwear, and a computer - and flew away. And as soon as it became possible to walk more or less normally, I went traveling. I stayed in a tent in the Eilat mountains and went diving. When I realized that there was nowhere to improve in diving until the doctor allowed me to put a fin on my sore leg, I went to Europe to study to become a skipper (yacht captain). I can’t say that this is my new super hobby, but it’s such a cool feeling to learn something new, study, travel. And I am almost in no way inferior to completely healthy team members in terms of working on a yacht.

The main part of our body is still the brain. With the help of this relatively stationary component, you can move mountains, the main thing is to understand in which direction.

Mikhail Zhitlovsky

Age: 60 years

What happened: I lost my leg

What he does: entrepreneur, athlete, international master of sports in sambo, master of sports in judo

Mikhail Zhitlovsky

I am a professional athlete; I have competed at a high level in sambo and judo for many years. As a result of several factors, I developed a chronic disease that led to the amputation of my right leg. When all this happened, I immediately began to think about what to live on. I am married, I have children, sons. How can I make sure that it is I who provide for them, and not they? My wife was there all the time; she was very young then, but she has a very strong character, which helped both me and her cope with what happened. But I had to put myself back together very quickly.

I tried to find work in different fields. Before that, I worked as a coach for many years, colleagues suggested that I become a coach in wheelchair sports, but this was more of a managerial job, and I was not interested. Wealthy friends offered me work as an assistant, a driver, and I myself was ready to even glue boxes if it gave me income. But in the end I said “thank you” to them and decided that I would try it myself. I started creating for myself workplace: video room in the library where my wife worked, selling publishing systems, then working in real estate. I have also been in the auto business for almost 15 years, and my company has long been one of the leaders in the automotive market in its segment. Now I am again building some new business model.

They promised me that in a couple of years my second leg would be amputated. I understood that then everything would become more difficult. After the amputation I dialed heavy weight, my heart began to make itself felt, and I decided to make an attempt to return, oddly enough, to almost the lifestyle that I led when I was in my best shape. I started with swimming to improve my cardiovascular fitness, then added weight training, then table tennis, and then when my wife and son decided to take up skiing, I decided to join. Without a prosthesis. I drove 10 meters the first time and fell, I drove 15 meters the second time and fell. Then I found an excellent coach and learned to skate very well, even began to compete: at the World Cup, European Cup, and Paralympic Games. Then it became interesting: if I go downhill skiing, should it be water skiing? We got it. And ski slalom turned out well: I take part in competitions both among two-legged people and among one-legged people.

Every person living with two arms, two legs and a healthy spine must understand that this can change at any moment, at any second. But there is no need to be afraid at all: a person with a changed body can do things that ordinary people never dreamed of.

Pavel Obiukh

What happened: I was born blind

What he does: business coach, athlete

Pavel Obiukh

I was born blind. Of course, from childhood I understood that my situation was different from the situation of other people. A very important factor for me was that my loved ones never treated me as if I had any special features: I was raised exactly the same as my sighted brother. In high school, I began to decide what to do in life: I always had enough hobbies. Sports, music, reading - I was interested in a lot. Thanks to this, I constantly met very different people and got involved in what they were doing. As a result, today I work as a business coach for Dialogues in the Dark, and work is my main concern.

I have teacher education, my academic degree is also in pedagogy, so I have always been involved in the learning process: even before the “Dialogues”, in other organizations, I was involved in the development of trainings, mainly social ones. Two years ago, a very good friend of mine said that he was recruiting people for new company, and suggested that I do not social, but business training. I said to myself: “This is another experience, another life experiment” - and decided to try to apply my knowledge and skills in this area. Training in the dark is, of course, special, but darkness is just a tool that we use. The entire training is the transfer of knowledge, experience, and analytical skills.

I still really like to read and am still interested in sports: I go skiing, I have three skydives, and in the summer I go on multi-day kayaking trips. Danger, in my understanding, is a rather conventional thing. The precautions and safety measures I take in some of my activities may sometimes differ from those taken by sighted people. But if the kayak capsizes, both me and the sighted crew member will be saved by our ability to swim. There is no difference here.

Any person should love himself. Someone once said that treating yourself badly is stupid: there are already so many people in the world capable of treating you badly, why else would you do it yourself? You need to be in a normal relationship with yourself, and the body in this sense is no exception.

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By being inspired by the example of strong people, you can achieve success simply because you do not lose faith in yourself. Remember that in the most difficult situations there is a solution. And there are people who have proven that success is achievable, it just takes work sometimes.

Famous creative personalities at the beginning of their creative career often fail. There is no need to go back centuries for examples. Yes, cult director Steven Spielberg did not gain popularity immediately. He made two failed attempts to get into film school and was twice rejected with the words “too mediocre.” By the way, the persistent director finally graduated from this institution after 37 years. In addition to worldwide recognition, he holds a B.A.

Examples famous politicians They also say that a strong character helps to achieve a lot. For example, Winston Churchill voted the greatest Briton in history, according to a survey conducted by the BBC in 2002. And although a fair amount of time has passed since this survey, in the scale of history the personality of this politician cannot be overestimated. But we are not so interested in him political activity, how much grandiose work on yourself. After all, he became prime minister only at the age of 65, and this was preceded by serious work. This person called the difficulties overcome as realized opportunities.

It is not only in the world of politics that you can meet people who are strong in spirit. Sometimes your calling and your favorite thing help you stay afloat. Famous modern scientist, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking- an example of this. After the diagnosis, doctors believed that he would live only 2 years. However, now his name is well known to many, he has made many discoveries, popularizes science, writes books, has been married twice and has flown in zero gravity. And all this - with paralysis, which at first left him with only a finger on his hand, and today - only one muscle of his cheek.

Chemist Alexander Butlerov, while a student, he completely started a fire at the university where he was then studying. The reason was a failed experiment by a hapless researcher. As punishment, he was given a “great chemist” sign, with which he had to walk in front of all the students. But years later he truly became a great chemist.

And the inventor of the light bulb Thomas Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts before his invention worked. However, he himself did not consider them failures. He claimed that he simply found 1000 ways to make a light bulb. This man was ready to sort through 6,000 materials to find the right one, and was distinguished not only by his efficiency, but by his strong desire not to give up.

You don't have to be a famous singer or a venerable writer to inspire people to move forward. If we talk about heroic resistance to circumstances, we need to remember Nick Vujicic. This man was born without arms or legs at all, with one small appendage instead of a leg. After a difficult childhood and a suicide attempt, Nick took up the cause, and today he speaks to huge audiences, telling people that any life, even accompanied by difficulties, has great value. He, like Stephen Hawking, has a great sense of humor. The first one periodically voices himself in shows and projects using an artificial speech synthesizer, and the second one comes up with funny nicknames for his limb. Here you can read the biography of Nick Vujicic.

Giuseppe Verdi did not enter the Milan Conservatory, where he was advised to find a teacher from among city musicians if he still wanted to study music. Years later, the same conservatory fought for the right to bear the name of the famous musician.

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven received an unequivocal verdict from his teacher: “Hopeless.” And at the age of 44 he lost his hearing. But neither one nor the other turned him away from music or stopped him from writing it.

Sometimes talent needs to be revealed, and others do not see it for a long time. For example, in the biography of the singer Fedora Chaliapin There's a pretty funny episode. Being financially strapped, he went to look for work - as a journalist and singer in a choir. His friend Alexey Peshkov, whom we know as Maxim Gorky. The paradox is that Chaliapin was accepted into the newspaper, but his vocal abilities were rejected, and the future writer Peshkov was accepted to sing, but no talent for writing was discovered. Fortunately, life still put everything in its place.

Attentive readers may have noticed that only men are represented on our list. But this does not mean that history has not known strong women. We have prepared. Remember that the will, the desire to achieve heights in life and at the same time be a worthy person does not depend on age, gender, or anything else. Try, make mistakes, but don't be afraid of mistakes. And don't forget to press the buttons and

There are many good and strong people in the world. But it’s worth taking an example from the best. Those who have lived such a life after which it is not scary to die. The lives of these great people are examples of real love, real friendship, real fortitude, real kindness.

But in our time of total confusion, it is not always easy to distinguish between the real great people among the simply famous and those who dreamed of being great. Among the so-called "stars".

Such strong people as Alexander Nevsky, Admiral Nakhimov, Admiral Ushakov will always shine for us. But fortitude is not somewhere in the past. Heroes are born in our time, and they are not necessarily war heroes.

The distance (online) course helps you find courage and calm: “ Overcoming fears and anxieties"

The truth about the 6th company of the Pskov landing

Firefighter Evgeny Chernyshev: remained on the line of fire

Archimandrite Alipiy Voronov: the best defense is an offensive

Boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat - death as victory

Teenagers - heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Prince Alexander Nevsky: the sun of the Russian land

Admiral Ushakov - invincible naval commander

Innokenty Sibiryakov: “Help, I’m terribly rich!”

Mikhail Skobelev: fearless general

Colonel Konstantin Vasiliev: life is for friends

Nikolai Pirogov: War on pain

Elisaveta Fedorovna Romanova: mercy and purity

Good Doctor Haas

Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov: fiery

In the history of every nation there are individuals from whom it is worth taking an example. This historical heroes, legendary generals, successful businessmen, Saints, politicians and many others. Russian history, probably like no other, is rich in the names of such people; if you list them all, the list will be huge. The life of such people is an example true love, strong friendship, iron fortitude, real and sincere kindness. Let's talk about some of them, personalities of historical significance.

Prince Alexander Nevsky. Anyone who carefully studied history at school (and even not very carefully) knows this man. Alexander was born in 1220, he was the son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Alexander began to reign at a very young age; even then he was distinguished by his tall stature, clear mind and loud voice. Alexander took the Kyiv throne in 1236. Then the Livonian knights went to Rus' with the goal of conquering and introducing Catholicism. The legendary Battle of the Neva took place on the famous Lake Ladoga, where the Russians defeated the Livonians. Everyone knows this battle as the Battle of the Ice. At this time, Rus' was under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars. , but Alexander managed to get a label for the great reign from the then Khan Batu. Even he admired Alexander's courage. Now Alexander Nevsky has been canonized and recognized as a Saint for his strong faith and wise rule of the country.

There were also among wealthy Russian entrepreneurs. One of these is Innokenty Sibiryakov, who became an orphan at the age of 14 and at the same time the heir to a truly enormous fortune (he inherited four gold mines, which produced more than three tons of gold in 1894). The strength of this man's spirit lies in the fact that he did not succumb to the influence of wealth. Innocent graduated from a private gymnasium and devoted his entire life to charity. These were the victims educational institutions, hospitals, the creation of charitable societies, etc. Already at a mature age, Innocent took monastic vows with the name John.

Elisaveta Fedorovna Romanovna is considered a real standard of mercy, purity and real and sincere love among Russian women who lived in past times. Elizabeth was very beautiful - almost everyone noted this. She was born in England, into a wealthy family, and already in childhood she suffered terrible hardships - first from her little brother, then from her sister and mother. As a result, Ella (that was her name before baptism) takes a vow of chastity. In 1884, Ella married Prince Sergei Alexandrovich, but even here the tragic events did not leave her family. Even then, those dissatisfied with the authorities began to appear in Russia and started riots. A bomb was planted in the Grand Duke's carriage; as a result of its explosion, Sergei Alexandrovich's body was torn into pieces. After this terrible event, Elizabeth became a monk and became involved in charity work, leading an immaculate life of prayer and helping the suffering and disadvantaged.

The history of the Jews of Poland and the history of Jewish Warsaw is the life story of the founders of the kibbutz and the history of the founders of the museum. It is difficult to separate a person’s life from what is happening around him, from what is happening with his place of residence, especially when there is a war and millions of human lives fall under the wheels of history.
The uniqueness of this exhibition is that it shows the Jewish perspective on life in Warsaw before and during the Holocaust. This is a story about the everyday life of Jews, about their faith and about their survival.

The exhibition's story begins long before the Nazis came to power and captured Poland.

With the help of a variety of documentary evidence, the exhibition tells the story of life, although usually this kind of exhibition is a story about dying... Without an understanding of Jewish life before the war, its aspirations, hopes and expectations, we will not be able to understand the extent of the destruction of an entire culture of which there is no trace left. trace.
We return to Jewish Street in Warsaw 1935. , with its political and ideological currents. Who was there: Hasidim and Mitnagdim; educated and assimilated; members of Zionist youth movements; members of non-Zionist youth movements... The exhibition seeks to show the complexity and contradictions of Jewish life of those times.
The assimilated, the Orthodox, the workers, and the socialists fought to educate their children, believing that by doing so they would give the next generation opportunity better life.

Sign "Mizrach" of the Mizrahi movement (Mizrahi is a religious Zionist organization and movement), Warsaw 1920.

Traditional Jewish education.

And in parallel with this...

...joint struggle to improve the situation of workers.

Various aspects of Jewish life are presented through the stories of people who represent a spectrum of opinions and experiences.

The topic of repatriation to Eretz Israel is one of the important aspects of Jewish life in pre-war Warsaw.

Congratulations Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to a repatriate sailing on a ship to Eretz Israel, Warsaw 1925.

Greeting card Shana Tova (Happy New Year), Warsaw 1930.
Repatriates are depicted on the road to Eretz Israel.

Preparation for agricultural activities on a training farm in Gorochow, Warsaw 1937.

Repatriation certificate issued by the HaShomer HaTzair trade union in Poland, 1924.

The exhibition features diaries, letters, photographs, films, various objects and documents from the archives of the Lohamei Hagetaot Museum. Including exhibits from the Korczak Collection, Zionist youth movements and the Oneg Shabbat ghetto archive. A lot of documentaries and photographs from that time were used.

For the first time, materials from the museum’s archives that have never been exhibited are presented. The "Korchak Collection" includes letters and other materials from the orphanage.

Technically, the exhibition is aimed at the younger generation and tries to speak their language: many interactive showcases, where by touching the image of one of the artifacts shown, you get information and a story about it. There are separate interactive stories about Jewish theater and cinema, Jewish newspapers, sports...

Illustrated newspaper for children and teenagers "Eton Katan" (small newspaper, Hebrew)" in Hebrew, 1929.

After the war, Jews emigrated to different countries, some came to Eretz Israel.
The seeds of Jewishness were sown in children's souls by the systems in which children were raised before the war: in Jewish youth movements, in Jewish education, in prayers in synagogues for the Yishuv in Eretz Israel, sports associations and Hebrew newspapers, all of this played a role in the choice of life ways.

The war burst into Jewish life in Poland, splitting it into two parts: before and during.

This is how an artist unknown to me depicted it, in a painting not participating in the exhibition, but photographed by me in the museum.

An interactive section is dedicated to the capture of Warsaw. We not only see the siege, bombing, shelling on the screens, we feel like we are part of what is happening.

I made several small videos from this section.

The Ghetto section uses video films to show life under the yoke of occupation and isolation for almost two years, between October 1940 and July 1942, when a wall was built to separate the ghetto from the rest of the city and people did not know what was happening outside the ghetto walls , did not know what the new day would bring.

Borders of the ghetto 11/15/1940.

Many testimonies and diaries written at that time illustrate what happened. The story about the events of those days is told on behalf of real people who lived in the ghetto. This is a story about daily life in the ghetto and the problems of this life: the colossal gap between the rich and the poor in the ghetto, issues related to the observance of religious rituals and the Sabbath, Jewish holidays.

Old films and photographs speak of things that cannot be described in words. Some of these people remain only in photographs; they have neither graves nor names...

Summer 1942, deportation of three hundred thousand Jews, two-thirds of the ghetto population, to death camps.

The exhibition does not end with the Holocaust. It is still in the process of creation.

The exhibition will end with the founding of the kibbutz and the birth of the first child. The circle closed when children who grew up in rich European bourgeois houses that were destroyed in the Holocaust built new houses in Eretz Israel, on kibbutzim and began a new life..

“We have a responsibility to fight for our future” is the message of the exhibition, which is suitable for both Jews and non-Jews.

I have already talked about the ongoing exhibition in Memorial Museum Beit Lohamei ha-ghettaot