Welcome to my newest page!
IGOR and my message board
Here’s yet another “Page From The
Past” I would like to share with you in
the name of better understanding, and for
peace and love.
Please don’t think that I’m sharing this
in the name of my own publicity or for
proud glory !
No, I don’t stream to proud glory
so !
What’s glory ? Just an illusory
haze!..
I stream toward helping others to
know
That there is joy in what one
creates.
Creates, so that thee’d be more
light,
And so that evil ones do not rejoice
!..
May thsi planet circle the Cosmos
aright
A gift of God, for people’s choice !
___ Igor Mikhailusenko
***************************
*******************
Gentlemen, the press !
The following appeared in
“The Pittsburgh Press”,
on Sunday, July 9, 1989 *
(34 Boulevard of the Allies,
Pittsburgh, Pa.15230, P.O.Box
566 — Telephone /412/ 263-
1100).
___________________________
______________________
Give Light and
the People Will Find Their
Own Way
THE PITTSBURGH PRESS
Sunday, July 9, 1989
___________________________
__________________
Goodwill mission
Visiting Moscow poet
proselytizes for peace
By Erin O. Patton
The Pittsburgh Press
HE IS on a one-man crusade,
dedicating his life to promoting
world peace and understanding
through his writings. He calls it
“my dream”, but he will be the
firsr to tell you that dreams can
come true.
Moscow poet Igor
Mikhailusenko, 57, is staying
with friends in the Mon Valley
during his third visit to the
United States, eagerly awaiting
the moment when another of his
dreams will come true — a new
pair of artificial legs.
But Mikhailusenko says that
his primary mission in the U.S.
is the furtherance of peace — to
help bridge the communication
gap between the United States
and the U.S.S.R. throgh his
writings and travels.
“I want to learn about the
positive things in the U.S. and
share them with my fellow
countrimen who have never
wexperienced America.”
His work in promoting
peace has earned him many
honors. He received the Badge
of Honor from the Moscow
Peace Committee in 1982 and
was recognized by the United
Poets Laureate International
gor his efforts toward world
brotherhood and peace through
poetry in 1987.
Perhaps his highest honor
was writing the theme song for
the 1980 Moscow Olympics,
“Shine Out Just Like a Star,
Our Sporting Planet, “which
was [published in 90 languages.
No matter what the
language, Mikhailusenko
believes that countries must
revove a serious barrier if peace
is ever to be achieved.
“We must eliminate
stereotypes and no longer see
ourselves as enemies, “he said.
“It’s up to us. There are no
international laws asking us to
be friends.”
His mission is fueled by his first-
hand encounter with the horrors
of war as a child, living in
Moscow during World War II.
His mother worked day and
night in a factory while his
father was killed in the Nazi
invasion of Moscow in 1942.
================
=============
“I seek to know what
happiness is, and I came
to America to search for
happiness.”
__ Igor
Mikhailusenko
================
============
That same year,
Mikhailusenko, then 10, had
just stepped down from a
streetcar in Moscow when an air-
raid siren sounded and sent the
crowd darting toward shelte.
During the panic,
Mikhailusenko was thrown
under the streetcar’s wheels. The
trolley severed both his legs, the
left leg cut at the mid-calf and
the right leg at the knee.
“I could see them on the
ground next to me,“
he said.
Since then, he has walked on
outdated wooden limbs that
strap to his legs at the knee.
Recently, Mikhailusenko
received word that US Air will
fly him free to Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., where he will stay three
weeks for casting, fitting and
therapy for a new set of
sophisticated artificial legs being
donated by Mahnekes Co. He is
scheduled to leave for Florida
tomorrow.
“I am very thankful for what
I am being given,”
Mikhailusenko said. “I seek to
know what happiness is, and I
came to America to search for
happiness.”
Mikhailusenko’s pursuit of
peace and happiness has led him
to seek answers from world
leaders, including such
influential UI.S. politicians as
former President Ronald
Reagan and Gerald Ford, and
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
His latest quest is a letter to
President Bush asking him for
the president’s views on peace
into the year 2000.
“I want to know what the
president’s opinion is on what
the beginning of the third
millennium will bring to
humanity in the social, cultural
and technological sphere.
“I wish to understand what
man has created that is worthy
to be the source of further
progress and happiness of
mankind in future years.”
Mikhailusenko said he
anticipates a reply from
President Bush and hopes to
have that reply printed, in its
entirety, in Soviet publications.
When he was in the United
States last summer,
Mikhailusenko received a
spiritual gift that increased his
zeal for peace. He was baptized
in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
He said the Mormon Church
has given him the joy he has
longed for. “I wanted to find
happiness. After baptism, I felt
happiness come into my life. It
was the culmination of a lifetime
of experiences.”
Mikhailusenko said he is the
first Soviet since 1917 to become
a Mormon. He aid he expects
no conflicts wsith his
countrymen and even has plans
to build a Mormon church in
Moscow to acquaint other
Soviets with its tenets.
“They will be surprised, but
hopefully the Lord will bless me
and bring me on contact with
others who are searching for
truth. Because only through
spiritual
sdevelopment can we achieve peace.
”
Mikhailusenko hopes to obtain an extended work visa by assuming a job as
a translator for the Mormon Church to prolong his stay in the United States for
11 months.
”
Meanwhile, he will continue writing and publishing works dedicated to
his ultimate dream: the peaceful disarmament of nuclear weapons by the year
2000. Without it, he says, the ugly face of war will frown upon the earth once
again.
He writes:
“I am human, one of many many. For the survival of us all I bear
responsibility.
“
------------------------------------------------------------------
That was from
“The Pittsburgh Press
”, ( Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Sunday, July 9, 1989.
=============================
======================================= NOTE BENE !
************************
LETTER OF U.S. PRESIDENT
While travelling in the United States this summer I wrote a letter to
President George Bush in which I shared with him my thoughts about peace. Soon
I received his reply (dated August 7, 1989) :
“Dear Igor,
Your wonderful letter has just come to my attention. Thank you
for your kind words and warm greetings. Barbara joins me in welcoming you to
the United States of America. We wish you well and hope your medical treatment
in Florida was successful.
I want to thank you for sharing with me your views on peace. Ours is a
changing world, full of hope, new technologies and, most of all, new
friendships. Like you, I look forward to a peaceful future between great powers
— a peace full of prosperity and freedom for all peoples.
The United States and the Soviet Union have begun a new relationship. It
’s a relationship that demands realism, but has shown real progress in a better
understanding between our two natiions. When we have kept to the principles of
realism and strength, dialogue and engagement, we have succeeded in advancing
both peace and freedom. My Administration remains committed to these tenets of
international harmony.
Igor, the entire Bush family wishes you full health and every happiness
in the future.
Sincerely,
George Bush.
”
How wonderful that people can freely share their views on peace !
Igor Mikhailusenko, poet
Moscow, U.S.S.R.
_____________________________________________
That was from
“NEW TIMES
” Magazine, ( NOTE
BENE ! ! ! No. 39, The year 1989, which appeared in Moscow, Russia in Russian,
English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguse, Italian, Polish, Chech and Greek
languages, since June 1943.
