‘We Must Save Despair for Better Times’

A Slavic aphorism — a gift from a friend

When my friend Paul was signing off on our phone conversation today, he made sure I was okay.

“We must save despair for better times,” he told me. He was quoting a Slavic aphorism, and it was a gift more valuable to me than diamonds or pearls. It was a gift of sturdy words — words that could sustain me.