Israel

First and foremost, thanks to those who commented on my previous post, thank you for clarifying my intention on the pursuit of happiness as a quote from the Decl. of Indep.

Born in America, I was taught from kindergarten to high school, through my teachers and the books we read in their classes, that America stand for liberty, freedom, human rights. A phrase that has come into general conversation, "the pursuit of happiness" was born with the will smith film "Pursuit of Happyness" that was extremely successful in the box office.

It isn’t me, someone else is suffering. I couldn’t.
Not like this. Everything that has happened,
cover it with a black cloth,
then let the torches be removed…
Night. -- Anna Akhmatova, “Requiem” (translated by Sasha Mayakovsky)

On that occasion there was a woman standing behind me,
her lips blue with cold, who, of course, had never in
her life heard my name. Jolted out of the torpor
characteristic of all of us, she said into my ear
(everyone whispered there) - 'Could one ever describe
this?' And I answered - 'I can.' It was then that
something like a smile slid across what had previously