Anton Kyrylenko                                                                                                                                 Blog post #4

(Summarizing a historical figure that is important to your writing project)

Some of the greatest people in life are the ones who you least expect to meet, and this was certainly the case with this extraordinary person, who serves as a great example of human strength and desire to live for myself in a time of my life where I will soon have to take on the world as an adult. So many circumstances had to be accounted for and different choices to be made, beyond my control, for me to meet this person. And as my parents and I even where driving to meet him for the first time, that part of teenage-ignorance which is present in every one of us including me was asking: “Why do I have to go there and do I really need to know this person for my life to change somehow?”. Sure enough it did: I could have never imagined then that four years later I would be writing about him and be proud that I had a chance to meet such a wonderful person at a very personal level.

His name is Ivan Burtyk, a ninety-four-year-old writer, political activist and patriot of Ukraine. A well-respected person within the social diaspora circles of Ukrainians here in the United States as well as by official representatives of Ukraine. Perhaps not a significant historical figure on a global scale, yet a very import one at community level. Today he lives in a nice suburban town of Clifton, New Jersey. He had raised his children well, and now is proud of his descendants who all made great choices in their lives thanks to him. However, this is just the pinnacle of the iceberg. All that he has earned, and I see today came after conquering many feats.

He has perhaps the longest, most difficult and inspirational journey that I had heard of firsthand. It is sometimes mindboggling to try and combine all episodes and believe that it is a story about one person. Born to a military-related family in a small village in western Ukraine; many of the brightest childhood experiences of his were quickly overlapped by the start of World War Two. It was not long until Mr. Burtyk had to abandon his dear home and find a way to survive. He was a messenger and later a solider, fighting for Ukraine’s values and culture, but most importantly for his home in any way he could. Despite World War Two being a significant setback to him by snatching his teenage years right from him, he was still able to finish secondary school later in Germany as a refugee. His openness and energetic character shined though as he was able to make connections and meet many good people in Munich after the war. Eventually, he took part in establishing a Ukrainian university in Munich, of which he is still one of the co-founders and owners.

Perhaps it was the luck of the draw, but regardless he was given an opportunity by fellow Americans to go to the United States. So, he came to New York, with just two dollars in his pocket. At some point Mr. Burtyk had a decent job at a shop which brought him a salary to live off. Yet his motivation turned his ambitious goal to try and become someone bigger than just a shop manager to reality. That desire and strength were the main factors why he had made it this far.

Why had I chosen Mr. Burtyk? Well because I was able to see a lot of connections between him and myself. He gave me confidence and an example that I am not the only one in such an uncommon situation compared to most of my peers in college at a sense that I will be taking on the life here in the United states solely by myself starting a month from now when my parents will have to depart back to Ukraine. I will have to take on this journey and much of the success I will be able to get will lie solely in my hands. There will be challenges and times of doubt for me in the years to come. Yet what I know now is that it is possible to make it from far worse situations and that “failure” sometimes is the essential lesson for future success as I will be focusing primarily on how I have been adjusting to various situations during my childhood, in my autoethnography and what I managed to get out of that for my personal development, yet downscaled in terms of stress and life threats significantly.

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