Yesterday
morning at 8:00 am sharp I went for a blood test at Maccabi and started talking
amicably with the Russian nurse while she was drawing my blood about what
languages I speak since she wanted to know where I know Russian from. So, I
briefly explained and then I remembered the film Broken Ties and suggested she
see it, as I do to everyone, particularly Russians, these days. She asked me
how I know about the film, and I said I was following events closely and
explained briefly what the film was about. “You know”, she said, “it is
happening in my family too.” Then she
added – “which side are you on?”
“Ukraine”, I said. Her eyes widened, the visible part of her face went
pale (both of us had masks on) and she said “OK, that’s it, goodbye”.
I almost
laughed and said: “I’m sorry I ruined your day”, but we managed to talk another
few minutes. “What can you expect from a
comic?”, she said, to which I said that Ronald Reagan was an actor and turned
out to be one of the better presidents.
I managed
to show her the link to Broken Ties and she will watch it. Of course, the
probability that she would change her mind is almost nil, but what matters is
that we managed to talk about in a calm and pleasant way.