Longing for…
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn endured years in the brutal prison camps of Siberia. Day after day, he worked in the fields under extreme conditions, facing starvation and exhaustion. His suffering eventually led him to despair. One day, overwhelmed by hopelessness, Solzhenitsyn gave up. He dropped his shovel, walked to a bench, and sat down—fully expecting a guard to beat him to death for refusing to work. He had seen it happen before. But as he waited, head bowed, a fellow prisoner quietly approached. Without a word, the man drew a cross in the dirt with a stick, then returned to his labour. That simple act changed everything. As Solzhenitsyn stared at the cross, he was reminded that there was something greater than the Soviet regime, greater than the suffering around him. The cross represented hope—for him and for all people. Strengthened by that truth, he picked up his shovel and returned to work. Outwardly, nothing had changed...