after a (false) fire alarm in the building (announced no fewer than 3 times!), a conversation with a (russian-speaking) coworker while admiring the view from the window, and checking for smoke from below..

She starts:

     " yeah, it’s really scary, and after 9/11 and Paris …”

“They are miserable people, those who work in the news media, and they want us to feel miserable and scared, too”

     " … and now they also want to bring all these refugees here..“

“Remember, but we came here as refugees, too, didn’t we”

     “we don’t engage in such activities”

“And what about all the russian mafia and murders and fraud?”

      “that’s different”

I have no idea what to reply to that any longer. I don’t even know why I even engage with the Russians outside my immediate circle…