When I learned of Putin's decision to put the church back in the centre of the village, I had also learned of the death of a very good old friend at the dawn of his 80th year, through his son.
Among my condolences, I told him that I became friend with his father quite easily because he was a man of his word, who kept his word and showed it.
And such men I had not come across much in my life.
I am grateful to him for having been such a man, because in front of him, I was able to make constructive exchanges, which raised me towards a better fulfilment.
In the end, the same is true of Vladimir Putin, as a man and as a president.
I do not know who gave him this inspiration, this will, and above all this sensitivity and knowledge.
Among many others, I am grateful to him for standing up at the right moment to say that there are still men in this world who have values and their words, and that these words are accompanied by real and authentic actions, not vain and hypocritical, just to occupy space and fill it with noise and chaos, with consequences opposite to what was promised.
This is both a great joy and a great grief. A photon might say that it is a state of great "griefoy".
The media outbursts, and the political posturing can be summed up in these words from Putin:
(In French)
"When I was a kid we used to say to each other when we were arguing at playtime 'he who says it is the one who is'. This is not a coincidence, it is not just a childish saying, it has a deep psychological meaning. We always see our own traits in others, and we think they are like us in reality."
Roughly in summary:
"What you say comes back on you," Vladimir's response when Joe had called him a killer.
