I've been working on a photo album for Marty with all his Navy pictures. I actually made it for him for a gift several years ago and presented it unfinished. I'm trying to finish it now. I am currently putting in photos of Moscow. There are quite a few pictures of a military parade. Cold War military might at it's best. Lots of tanks and missiles and such. In one picture there is a soldier looking at the camera with a big grin on his face.
I started to wonder what his life might have been like. Russia in 1989. The Soviet Union. Nearing the end of the Cold War. I think of Moscow as cold and gloomy. I imagine living in one of those huge architecturally bland communist housing blocks. The average sized 2 bedroom apartment in Moscow is 485 square feet. I read a statistic that stated Russia has over 500,000 alcohol related deaths per year as compared to 75,000 in the US. I don't really know how that works out percentage wise, but it's been a notorious problem in Russia throughout their history. So I'm imagining a gloomy life for that smiling young soldier.
I hope that it wasn't really as bad as I think. The sun does also shine in Moscow. People live and love and have families like the rest of the world. Maybe his smile continued on for many years. I only know that I am glad that I live in the United States and not in Russia.
I like to look at photos and wonder.
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