ACT II. TERRITORIES
Inspiration: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” (Seneca)
Concept:
Two Worlds. The feat as an act of everyday existence, and Humanity as the Gold of our time.
The World of the Territories
There are Two Worlds. The World of the “Big Land” — entirely shiny, but often empty: there, the slightest gust of wind tears away the cheap wrapper, exposing lies, indifference, and an endless parade of masks. And there is the World of the Territories. There is nothing to hide behind gloss there. There remain only the charred skeletons of houses, broken roads… and People.
In this world, I seek what has true weight — the Gold of the Territories, that very Humanity which is the only foundation of our civilization. The essence of the project is not in destroyed buildings or in new roads, which are undoubtedly good. The goal is a look into the very depth of the human Soul. Through darkness, through cold, through all the endured pain. There, where there is no false shine, where there is that very Man.
The Feat of the Territories
It is not always a heroic act on the battlefield. The Feat of the Territories is simply to Live. To live the life that others consider impossible. A warrior passing through the hell of war. A builder laying brick by brick on the ruins. An engineer restoring bridges. And that woman casually walking past an unexploded shell. For her, it is just an ordinary day. But in this frame — there is everything: the Solomonic “this too shall pass, ” the fragility of being, and the indomitable strength of spirit.
Why are the Territories silent? Because they have no time for the carnival of the other world. They observe. They know that everything superficial will one day disappear, and only History will remain. A few hundred photographs about Life in the Territories. How it really was. This History will be told much later.
Two worlds. Two times.
Times are not chosen — one lives and dies in them.
Leonid Filatov
There are two worlds, two times, or perhaps even more. One can hide endlessly from this reality: live in a cozy burrow, occasionally peeking to the surface. Or choose another world — bright, colorful, full of shades, completely forgetting about the first. Or, as is customary now, simply not talk about it at all. But the reality is this: these worlds cannot exist without each other. Separately, they are incomplete, meaningless, and infinitely empty. That is why existence in them is so depressing.
The steel blades are drawn tight.
Do you hear? The city is beaten by rain.
I haven’t read the news in a long time.
I have always hated lies.It is a shame for a word to be printed.
What kind of fairy tale is this, where everyone is a villain?
Look how many masks are falling.
And beneath the masks — there are no people.
We often think that we are powerless to change anything. We were taught this, and they were bad teachers. We can, and we always could. We just don’t always have the courage — yes. But we can choose. Simply because:
The great right to choose is the right to BE Human.
Choice is the only thing we can do every day. A choice in favor of Humanity…
Always strive to be a Human, in any situation, in any World, even when it seems impossible. Remember — it only “seems” so!
“To be a human among humans and to remain one forever, in whatever misfortunes, not to lose heart and not to fall — that is what life is, that is its task.”
F.M. Dostoevsky, “The House of the Dead”
“Man must not complain of his times; nothing will come of it. Bad times: well, man is there to improve them.”
— Thomas Carlyle
And it is truly so. We are used to complaining about the era (and about any era we live in). Too turbulent, too cynical, too unstable — there is always a reason to complain. But complaint is useless. It is like treading water on a sinking ship.
The way out is not in waiting for the “right time, ” but in action. Man is not a toy of circumstances. He is the very tool with which this “unstable” time can be improved. Not waiting for ideal conditions, not cursing the darkness, but kindling the flame.
Saint-Exupéry said: “What is the meaning of my house? It is not the walls and the roof, but the love and trust that live within it.” And so our time acquires meaning not by itself, but through what we put into it. If the world seems cold — warm it with your deed. If it is divided — become a bridge.
So, friends, let’s be without illusions: times are always “bad” for those who want to hide away. And always full of opportunities — for those who are ready to act.
To be Human means to improve. Even when, or rather, especially when, there is chaos all around.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus
Humanity is the Gold of civilization!
I seek this Gold always, every day, among charred skeletons, among ruins and rubble, among the noise of megacities and in the silence of park alleys. And I find it in the eyes of people who, despite everything, have kept the light within them. They did not choose to become victims of circumstances. They chose to remain Human.
But even in this world, where everything has been torn away by the wind, there is something that remains absolutely untouched. Something that obeys neither the laws of war nor the laws of states. Something that does not know the word “impossible.”
…And something that we, adults, have lost forever.
