To the editor:

Irina Ratushinskaya, a citizen of Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, was arrested as a dissident in 1983 and imprisoned with a few other women political activists for several years. Her book, “Grey Is the Color of Hope,” written in 1989, is a celebration of the freedom to honor one’s conscience and commitment to a cause (freedom of speech and religion) despite terrible abuse.

The relationship between the women prisoners was vital to her survival. They enacted horrifically stressful hunger strikes when a sadistic guard targeted the weakest person in their group. Fearing bad publicity if political prisoners died, the KGB’s options were limited. For example, they never force-fed Ratushinskaya, pumping 2 liters of liquid into an empty stomach and preventing vomiting, a practice used on less noteworthy prisoners.

Ratushinskaya wrote that the most difficult challenge was dealing with the lies they were told. Guards would promise privileges if they renounced their opposition and pledged loyalty to the Soviet state, but the women had learned from former prisoners that promises would not be kept. Ratushinskaya never gave in, even when placed in solitary confinement without heat or food.

Although she encountered some guards and Communist officials who had sold their souls and seemed incapable of compassion, Ratushinskaya maintained her faith in God and in the eventual triumph of good over evil.

Americans have not yet lived up to the high ideals upon which our nation was founded, but nothing is stopping us from doing so now. In fact, if climate scientists’ predictions are accurate, this could be our last chance to build an equitable, just society, and to be good stewards of nature’s bounty and human blessings (rule of law, scientific method and communication.)

Truth is fundamental to progress. We have the responsibility to verify information and to live within the confines of conscience. We must not let cynicism undermine our determination to move forward, and we must humbly acknowledge that we have valued individual material success more than the welfare of our society, including our non-human neighbors. As we try new approaches, we will make mistakes (as did our forefathers), and must learn from them.

Grateful that she had a cause that gave meaning to her suffering, Ratushinskaya continues to inspire us to commit our lives to noble projects.