Moscow, May 7, 1999

Dear Tribe,
     Today was my day to fast. We are chain fasting 
for world peace and for Mother's speaking tour. She 
will come to Russia on May 22. Some people 
connected with the orthodox church are trying to 
stop her appearance.
     I went out to the store down on the street to buy 
some yoghurt etc. for after midnight when I break my 
fast. This place is rather chummy, people kind of 
know each other. They know me too, because I've 
been here at Kropotkinskaya St. for over four years. 
Before, they knew me as Moonie. People look at 
you like, "Is he human? Is he brainwashed? He must 
be an enemy of our Orthodox faith... a heretic." Now 
that has been superseded by "He's an American! 
They're bombing our brothers in Serbia!" They don't 
get angry; just look at me. Last time they said, 
"Well, here's the flyboy, just dropped in."
     This time.... A mother was there at the counter 
with her boy. He said something quietly, and she 
said to him, "Yes, he has a foreign accent." Then 
she asked the girls behind the counter, "Where's 
he from?" They said, "He's from Kosovo."
     I just heard them say that as I was walking 
out. I was thinking about that all evening. "He's 
from Kosovo," meaning "He's from America."
     Actually, that's rather appropriate. If you say 
"He's from America" here, it lands rather heavy, 
like a pallette of steel ingots. It was already like 
that before Yugoslavia. Now it carries new import.
     Also, if we reflect, America is made up almost 
entirely of refugees and their descendants. Ours 
too. "Give me your poor and downtrodden." It was 
ever so. So all those people who were persecuted 
and exiled came to America, and finally, after 
about two hundred years or more, gathered the 
power and strength to eventually go back to those 
kinds of situations and this time beat up the bully. 
     I'm not saying it's effective or necessarily right. 
But it does go to show where we are all coming 
from. So this time we are sympathizing with the 
refugees who were kicked out of Kosovo, and 
that's mostly what the Yugoslavia situation is 
all about (of course there's more to it too).
     We are actually like the younger brothers and 
sisters, who were given a hard time and driven 
out, and now we have restored the position of 
elder brothers and sisters, and have the strength 
to say what goes and what doesn't, but still we 
have the heart, the personality, the sympathies, 
of the younger brothers and sisters.
     That's great!
     They said, "He's from Kosovo" (meaning 
America).

     Yours truly,
     William S.