PROMISE
From the beginning of this COVID-19 crisis until
today, I have devoted more time to walking than ever before since my childhood. Since the beginning of my quarantine period in the past seven days, I have spent more time leaning against a pine
tree in the yard than talking with friends. From my mouse hole to the pine, from the pine to the end of the yard, from the end of the yard to the pine, I count the steps and think about the
beauty of the freedom just to be able to walk. As my feet fall into the deep snow, I make a few circles around the yard, like a fox just sneaking into a grove. Then I return to the pine,
desperate, with a nostalgic look towards my husband and daughter who have the freedom to take our dog for a walk around the block. As Archie waves his tail merrily, I lean penitently against the
pine and look sadly at the silent sleepy sky. Then I hear a pine whisper: "Natasha, the mouse hole is your home - your little house of freedom, the warm hearth you dreamed of in your years of
exile. Our friends are our responsibility", the pine continues. "The more we give to our friends, the more it comes back to us. Heaven is our second home. The more peace there is in heaven, the
calmer man will be. The entire earth was swallowed up by little men; every inch of land. And if that wasn't enough for them, they even started to take up the sky. They sent up flying objects
where there is no place for them - in the sky above the earth".
As the pine tree gives me a lesson about life, tears
of revelation are shed. "I promise," I whisper, "that I will love nature, the sun, the moon, the stars and the sky even more after COVID." And every pine and every tree as myself. I promise to
gratefully love my home. And my family as a shrine. I promise to keep my friends as the most precious pearls. I promise to see in every man only what is beautiful. I promise that I will close my
eyes to human weaknesses, reminding myself every day that I am only the same as my neighbor. Neither lower nor higher, neither less than better. I promise to justify love by deeds. I promise to
wish myself what I want for others. I promise that without shame and fear, I will advocate faith, love for the Lord and seek inspiration in life from the same source where the face of almighty
Light is reflected. I promise to believe in Good and Goodness, even in bad times. I promise to follow the written Word as much as I can and as much as I have been given. I promise to fill my life with deeds, gratitude and love for life and set goals. I promise to fill up my works with life!
Natasha Bartula
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