"Red Thread" Project X Ge4Ge
All other names: "Червона нитка"g, "Красная нитка"g, Chervona Nitka g
"Gratitude, honor and sincerity"
Gratia, honor, sinceritas
This project was created to bring a flow of gratitude, respect and sincerity to each other in society. To make us feel that there are wonderful people around us who are sincerely happy to see us, that we are not alone in what we feel. And so that we start treating each other more gently and more carefully.
What does the name "Red Thread" mean?
This is an allegorical figure taken from my book "When You Visit God, Leave Your Sneakers outside the Door". This figure reminds us that we are all connected to each other by a red thread from heart to heart, which appears the moment we do something for a person.Or think a lot about that person.
And this thread becomes especially strong when we are grateful and express this gratitude, when we notice what others are doing and sincerely say something good about it. When we respect the choices of others.
But it is also a reminder that if you pull the thread too hard, it can rip, and the consequences will follow the principle of the "butterfly effect." So we have to learn to be careful with each other's hearts.
All my life I have loved writing nice notes to different people: to thank waiters or cleaners for their work, give something to strangers who seem interesting or upset to me.
I often give candy or toys, flowers, and always try to find something cool, just to leave a person with pleasant emotions.
With the war, this feature of mine did not completely disappear, but became much less. As if "there is no time to be happy and live," you try to be more careful in everything. Over time, it has become clear that this emotional swing arises only because I don't always have a clear understanding of what to say, how to say it, and to whom to say it in order not to cause harm.
Then the feeling of the last few months was added: the emotional distance between the military, people involved in the war, and the civilian population became more pronounced.
The military live in their own world, and civilians live in theirs. The military has one emotional load, and civilians have another. And there is less and less understanding of how to communicate with each other in the new circumstances. It seems that we have little understanding of each other's emotions.
But there are things that everyone understands equally. These are gratitude, respect, a kind word and sincerity.
And in the project, I try to show how inspiring these things are. Because I believe that if we see such acts in society more often, it will be easier for us as a whole. Not from a note or a gift as such, but from the feeling that we are seen, that we are together, that we are all part of one whole. That we exist and our existence is not in vain
There were a lot of comments on Tik Tok like, "We should make this a trend!" This kindness, respect, and desire to do something good and pleasant for others should be made a trend.
I see in this wishing that we are sorely lacking warm words, support and gratitude. There were not enough of them even before the war, and now we cannot do without them. And videos and actions like this give hope, support and inspiration. This is what we need to move mountains and simply survive in the midst of everything that is happening now
What should the "Red Thread" project do?
In short, the "Red Thread"g project aims to help relieve the emotional burden that people often experience in private and to help build new mechanisms of communication. It shows the reaction of other people, it shows that we all really have the same desires.
If you look a little wider, it's like this:
As I see it, there are some prejudices in Ukrainian society (partly as a result of the Soviet past) that look something like this:
"You should not say good things (or a lot of good things), because then you will relax and do nothing."
"You can't praise a person too much, or he'll get lazy."
"If you have survived a lot of pain and sadness alone, you are a strong and courageous person!
If you do not trust anyone, do not share your emotions, you are strong! A lone wolf!"
"Real men do not cry, do not show their sadness or pain"
"You can't show pain or anger. Or you can, but only when it's really bad!"
These prejudices are incredibly damaging.
Because of such prejudices, we do not have normal communication and psychological mechanisms of interaction with each other. An incredible amount of emotions, feelings, and thoughts accumulate, turning us into ticking time bombs. This would not be so scary if we were talking about peacetime.
But now, when we are already exhausted by Covid, the horror of war, changes in the world, when every first military man and every second civilian has PTSD, the accumulation of emotions, ignoring them as before, now seems dangerous. Because in this case, we are not able to adequately respond and assess the situation. In a sense, (in my opinion) it is similar to the perception of a person who has not slept for 3-5 days. They become nervous, shaky and almost unable to make adequate decisions. That is why we need psychological mechanisms to help relieve excessive tension
And this is exactly what the Red Thread project should help with. It should give a boost to the desire to create these new mechanisms
What mechanisms are we talking about?
For example. Hundreds of people write in the comments under the "Chervona Nitka"g videos that they would prefer to hug a soldier or a person involved in the war, but they do not dare. Although the mechanism is very simple: if you feel like hugging, go up to them and ask them - if they are okay with it, hug them. If not, just say thank you and move on.
But if you are shy or afraid that the servicemen will refuse, if you are not in the habit of asking (and generally working with your desires and their realization), you will do nothing. You will simply pass by and probably feel ashamed or upset about it. Most likely, you'll regret not doing anything.
However, it is possible that such a display of attention from a civilian could raise the emotional state of a soldier and possibly save his or her life if they feel unwanted or alone at the moment
Projects such as the Red Thread show by their own example how it can be and provoke more expressions of those emotions and feelings that can strengthen a nation. Manifestations of gratitude, respect and sincerity.
The Red Thread project includes several stages.
First stage: building mechanisms of interaction (public)
There are Ukrainian and English versions of the project.
Naturally, we want to feel that we are not alone, and this is normal, because we most likely develop not alone, but in groups. Naturally, we want to express gratitude, because this is our feedback to others, and if we put aside prejudice, we are generally very grateful to each other. We have a lot of energy that we want to share. And gratitude (especially demonstrated gratitude) is very powerful. It makes you realize that everyone is important in what they do and in their existence
And the civilian who is in the rare raising economic activity and trying to maintain the usual way of life, to which the military will return later. And the soldier himself, who protects with his shield, life and heart, his native land and people
No one knows how to behave properly at war, but everyone knows how much easier it is to go anywhere if you feel supported.
To the attention of the public and the media
You can take any video of the Red Thread project with an active link to me as the author in the social media you will be posting on. That is, if you post on Instagram, look for me there and tag me. You also need to add the project hashtags #redthreadg #червонаниткаg
All other cases will be considered theft and disrespect for my project and the people who starred in it, and this project is primarily about respect for gratitude to each other
You can see the project materials here
https://www.instagram.com/adastracode
https://www.facebook.com/amilenski
All rights to the project and its materials belong to Asiyad Milenski