My friend, T, came back from her over a month long trip back to her native home land – Serbia.

She was so excited that she found an old newsletter article published in the 1950s, about her maternal great great-aunt – Yelena Glavashki

Yelena was a Hero of the Serbian Nation, a progressive teacher and fighter against Nazism.  My friend’s family came from the North (like Boston), but Yelena was sent by the government to teach in the much poorer and backward South (like Mississippi in old days).  The article spoke about how she first started with preschool education in which she excelled and eventually taught older children in Nish (a southern city in Serbia).  She also taught piano and brought much joy and beauty into the hearts of young people, despite of her own poverty and difficult material circumstances.

She was a socialist and a member of the Red Cross.  When the Nazis occupied Serbia, she joined the resistance.  Somehow, she bought a printing press to produce pamphlets and worked tirelessly to help Jewish families in Nish by making fake ID cards and hiding them in the surrounding villages.  A year later (1941), the article continued, she was betrayed by one of her own and put into prison where she suffered tortures and beatings day after day.  In spite of this, every day she sang beautifully to give courage to others in the camp.  She withstood all the torture & beatings without ever giving up any useful information.

A few months later, she was executed in the city of Nish with many others.  She was 37 years old.

T told me, she was so stunned and speechless when she read it.  I was so grateful that T brought a copy of the news article back with her, so I could meet Yelena Glavashik through the picture in the article.  My friend remembered that in the winter of 1978, a man knocked on her family door in Canada to inform her family that his family made sure a tree was planted in Yelena’s name in Israel.  She had known a few things about her great-aunt, but not the whole story.

I could see how proud T was to be a descendant of Yelena.  A renewal of determination showed on her face and in her attitude of continuing the work of education, peacefully with energy and purpose, and confident in change the world for a better tomorrow.

When I said good night to T, I gave her a warm hug.  She made me look at tomorrow with hope after the shooting in last December; after hearing about how a mother with small children still wants to possess guns; after putting on the orange vest when riding in the wood during the hunting season; after all the violence in every part of world, I had fallen into a depressed mood and had lost hope in humanity and human beings.  I even went as far as to tell my son, that he didn’t need to bother to give me any grandchildren in the future.  Why bring in a life to suffer through this horrible world of evil!

But, who am I to blame others when I do nothing to improve this collective bad karma around us?  Who am I to be depressed because of others actions?  My depression and self-pity was of my own doing! Instead of raising up from this toxic and evil environment, doing something to change it or sign on to support the new gun law to make this world better in some way.

The outrage toward the stupid & selfish mother should turn into energy of changing this evil culture of using violence to meet violence.  It should make me try working hard to create a better world, not become depressed about current degenerated environment.  Instead of change the negative to positive, to have hope in the future, I just let myself sunk into endless sorrow. What a stupid person I was!

In spite of the ups and downs in my own emotional growth, I always have the fortune to renew my hope in humanity and life, to continue living on and try to be better.   I do have a wonderful karma because it always ends UP, not DOWN!

It was amazing that T and I would meet in this life time and that she would become a force of inspiration in my life throughout the years.  I came from a small Island surrounded by water on the other side of the Pacific, she came from a place in the middle of Eastern Europe surrounded by mountains and forests.  She was searching for the purpose of her life. So one day she and a small suite case boarded on a bus from Canada to New York.  I was determined to live my own life, so I put everything I owned into my car and drove across country to New York.  Over the years we both moved out of the city, but we still remained friends.

Through the years, she always showed up at the time that I needed a boost or lift in my spirit.  Yesterday was no different than other times.  In Buddhism:  the coexistent relationship made up our karma.  How fortunate that I have this good karmic connection in this life time!

February 2013