Upon his release from 10 years in a Russian prison, Mikhail Khodorkovsky said he would devote his freedom to help those still, unjustly, behind bars.
The efforts of those who worked to free the former oil tycoon is what kept him alive, he said.
“The most important thing for a prison inmate is hope,” he said. Khodorkovsky, now in Germany, said he will not return to his homeland for fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will change his mind.
Accounts vary to Khodorkovsky’s initial guilt. Some say the oligarch pillaged, robbed and murdered on his way to becoming Russia’s richest citizen. Others say Putin feared Khodorkovsky as a political rival.
Whatever the case, Khodorkovsky had no reason to believe he would one day be free except for the hope that Putin would eventually be swayed to have a change of heart.
No matter your circumstances, it’s the hope for better or different things that keep you thinking about tomorrow.
When you’re young, hope comes in outsized packages, especially this time of year. Oddly enough, it’s the magic of flying reindeer, elves and Santa himself that helps temper those expectations.
Believing in Santa helps kids have one foot in reality and the other in fantasy land.
Behavioral scientists say children slowly learn about the physical world and the distinctions between fiction and nonfiction. As they get older they naturally peel away the fantastic, realizing reindeer can’t fly, or even if they could they wouldn’t be able to pull a Santa who ate cookies and milk at every house.
The fantasy of Santa is all part and parcel of waiting for Christmas, which in itself is so delicious. The decorating, the cooking, the caroling, the obsessive thinking about it is all as good, or even better, than the day itself.
Christmas teaches us to wait, to hope, and to find your greatest joy from making someone else’s day a little bit brighter.
Who knows, maybe Mr. Putin is caught up in the spirit. Let’s hope he stays that way.
— Susan Lynn
Why we need Santa; or the importance of hope
