Comments on: Dreams of Ukraine and of Freedom

By: Deke Parsons

Deke Parsons — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 04:06:18 +0000

Meeting Mother Theresa is definitely something you’ll never regret!

It’s pleasant to recall SAS. I haven’t been in contact with anyone I knew on the ship since circa 1993. I didn’t get to know enough people on board—I’m sorry we didn’t meet.

Of course, the reason I’m thinking about my time on the ship is a tragic one. I’m worried the same thing is going to happen with another one of our stops, Taiwan, soon enough.

By: Erin Sharaf

Erin Sharaf — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 16:48:46 +0000

In reply to Deke Parsons.

Hi Deke, oh my goodness, I wish we had connected while on SAS. I am surprised to hear you were asked not to travel alone. I guess from the perspective of those in charge it was risky to discharge young Americans into the chaotic mix of a recently dissolved Soviet country. That’s what’s most devastating to me-knowing how far they’ve come and how hard they’ve had to fight for the freedoms we all take for granted. Thanks for sharing your reflections.And yes, I too decided I could always see the Taj Mahal. I headed off to meet Mother Theresa instead. I think very few of us did not go on that Taj trip. I have no regrets…except that maybe I could have tried to meet Mother Theresa AND then go see elephants 🙂

By: Deke Parsons

Deke Parsons — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 07:34:17 +0000

I was there with SAS, too. I also went mostly into the countries alone. Sometimes, it was lonely watching everyone go out in groups. Usually—well, I’d pick going to see elephants in the Indian jungle over a touristy junket to the Taj Mahal any day.

I remember Odessa as grey and grim. The first night there I was told I looked like a Russian by a Ukrainian girl in a group we met. It was said in a mildly threatening way, but I laughed it off. I mentioned this to someone on the ship, and it got back to Tymitz. He asked me the next morning not to leave the ship without a professor. I think because I obeyed, I was given a ticket to an opera house excursion few were attending. I sat next to a pretty young Russian woman and her son. I said something generically nice about Ukraine. She smiled at me and said, “Americans and Ukrainians are the same, they don’t have a culture.” I snuck out shortly before we left port to see the Potemkin steps, and saw a confrontation between an old Russian man in a Red Army uniform and young Ukrainian students.

I can’t imagine living with that tension for 30 years, thinking you’ve moved past it, and suddenly, being engulfed in war.