A post by Pat
From the Mongols to the Czars to the Commissars, life for the Slavs has been hardship and oppression. Their literature and music reflect a bleak and resigned spirit. They survive.
Marriage, well that’s a challenge that may be more daunting. Ask the man from Omsk who jumped from a ninth-floor window during an argument with his wife. He thought he would escape his troubles through death. He failed. Not only did he live, but he must pay the medical bills for the 7-yr old girl he fell on. I suppose even with that, the worst is yet to come. He may have to go back home to his wife.
It doesn’t say if he tried drinking to alleviate the pain of living. They’re pretty fond of self-medicating with alcohol in Russia. Even some of the animals.
A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Friday.
An ex-performer, Zhora, became aggressive at his circus and was transferred to a zoo in Rostov, where he fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up his two vices.
“The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze,” Komsomolskaya Pravda reported, adding that the monkey is now in rehab in Kazan.
Could be a story out of Hollywood except for the skill with markers.
Marriage and fame. Universal challenges to the soul.
I once had an uncle like that chimpanzee but he went the simian one better. He was a compulsive gambler too.