There’s always more

     I don’t like it here. I don’t understand why father brought us to this city when we had our own house and farm in the village. At least we had food there, however little. It has been a week since I saw bread. I forgot the taste of meat. My brother keeps asking my mother for food but where can she get it from? The other day I saw people lying next to the road. They were very still. I wanted to go near and see but father said they were sleeping. My father goes out every day in search of work or any food. Mother and I wait eagerly at the door in the evening. It is water again…for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

     Nothing can get worse than this.

-Anton Shevchenko

Kharkiv, May 12^th, 1933.

(An estimated 7.5 million Ukrainians would die in the Famine-Genocide between 1932-1933)

      
     I feel alone most of the day. The only friend I ever had left for America. He asked me to go with him but I didn’t have the courage to make a decision. I don’t know why I am not wanted. I don’t understand why I can’t have normal relationships like everyone else. I can’t concentrate on what I am doing. I don’t know what I’ll do with my life. People say I am always cheerful. If only they could look into my mind! My life is useless. I am useless. I can’t bear this torture anymore.

     Nothing can get worse than this.

-David Sokolsky,

Warsaw, August 31^st, 1939.

(Nazi Germany attacks Poland on September 1^st, 1939)

     
     It had been a week since abba came home. I was happy actually. It was the longest I lived through a quiet home. Otherwise it is hell on earth with ammi screaming from the beatings of my drunken father and my little sister crying incessantly in her cradle and my father throwing blows and shouting abuses at ammi. Finally he came home, drunk as usual and started the daily routine. I wish I could do something. But I am small. What can I do? I don’t know why ammi continues to live with him. I hope God rescues her. I run to the Howrah Bridge every day to cry so that ammi won’t see me crying and feel sad. When is all this going to end?

     Nothing can get worse than this.

-Mohammed Ali,

Calcutta, August 15^th, 1946.

(Riots break out in Calcutta between Hindus and Muslims on 16^th August 1946 killing more than 4,000 people)

     
     I lost all interest in economics, the subject I love, the subject I gave my life for. In fact nothing seems interesting to me. I don’t even care if there’s a coup in the government. After she left me, everything seems blank and empty. I could never have imagined that a day would come when the love of my life would leave me for another man. The question “why?” haunts me day and night. I lost all my faith in God. What’s the point in having a home without a family in it?

     Nothing can get worse than this.

-David Samnang,

Phnom Penh, February 4^th, 1973.

 (The Khmer Rouge comes to power in 1975)     

     
     I was terrified when the doctor asked me to get a mammogram. The expression on his face was not encouraging. I knew something was wrong. I was severely fatigued and had lost a lot of weight. Well, the scan cleared all doubts. It was malignant. I was scheduled for a surgery and then started on chemo. The whole period was horrible! I lost all my hair, I lost more than half my weight, and my children were scared to come to me. I don’t know how I lived through those months. The doctors have discharged me but I don’t know what to do. I am scared each time I go to the doctor for follow up. I can’t bear this weakness and tension.

     Nothing can get worse than this.

-Maria Gicanda,

Kigali, April 5^th, 1994.

(The Rwandan genocide which would kill nearly a million Rwandans starts on April 6^th, 1994)

Note: Apart from the facts given in (), the rest of the article is fictitious.