Page 17 - The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1. Born in the USSR

is located on foot-hills and it was hard to find flat areas there, especially on the southern

outskirts of the city where we lived. That is why almost every street became an ideal
downhill slope for sledding.

The best downhill slopes were certainly the roads, which were quite wide, with the
snow rammed in by trucks and cars. Although there were considerably fewer cars on the
roads in those days, our parents were not at all thrilled by our games and, if they caught
us, our sleds were simply confiscated. It was the worst punishment for us.

Therefore, in most cases, pedestrian sidewalks became our routes for speeding
sleds. The downhill phase took place in the following way: We would run up and plop
our bellies down on the sleds, then plummet downward by helping to propel the sleds

with our feet.

One day, at a pretty hefty speed, I ran into the concrete steps of a staircase
projecting onto the sidewalk. As a result, the lower part of my face was smashed and the
teeth of my upper jaw were almost fully separated from my jaw and hanging “by a
thread”. Within a few weeks they grew back onto my jaw as though nothing had
happened.

I subsequently “repeated” this again in order to conduct a “controlled experiment”.

That is, I deliberately ran into steps on my sled once more, almost duplicating exactly
the first time around. The validity of my “scientific experiment” was fully demonstrated.
My teeth again were hanging “by a thread” and again grew back onto my jaw, as if
nothing had happened.

No dentists participated in this scientific experiment, I think all for the best. Neither
before nor after have I had any problems with my teeth. Until now I have not lost a single
tooth. With my teeth I could bite through a wire and crack walnuts, which grew
abundantly in Kislovodsk. As I understand now, the likes of this has never happened
with anyone else.

* * *
Almost at the same time an event occurred that had certain long range consequences
for me. The cause stems from the actions of a local eye doctor. When I was small my
right eye was, as physicians say, “lazy”. My left eye, the dominant one, had a visual
acuity of 1.0, while my right eye was 0.9. This was a very common condition that was
within normal limits. Nevertheless, the eye doctor made an erroneous judgment, which
she later acknowledged, but then it was too late to change anything for me.

She prescribed spectacles with a black glass for my left eye and a transparent glass
for my right eye in order to force my right eye to be active. Subconsciously I sabotaged
such “treatment” the best I could. Every time I went out I put these glasses in my pocket
and when I returned home put them back on the bridge of my nose. My little ruse worked
for some time until I was caught “red-handed”. At this point, I was admonished that it

was very important for me to wear them constantly and I gave my word not to remove
them under any circumstances.

I was just trapped. My mother knew perfectly well that once I gave my word, she
would have nothing to worry about. I had never broken my word, even if it meant
harming myself, as happened to me with the glasses. I began to wear the glasses
constantly, in spite of the fact I disliked them so much.

Back to contents
17