Lecture: To Be Better Than at the Start of the Journey

“When we’re young, we don’t know anything about ourselves. Then suddenly you find yourself in circumstances that require you not to break, not to blame others, not to betray… As you grow older, you should become kinder, more generous, calmer, more patient—better than at the beginning of the journey. If each person lives this way through life, there will be less evil in the world,” says Irina Yasina.

This will be a conversation about what is happening right now in our lives: how to endure blows and move forward, how to stop “pretending” and start “doing the thing.” Along with answers to questions from the audience, Irina Yevgenievna will share memories about her father—an economist and political figure Yevgeny Yasin—as well as about those whom the Yasin family was friends with: Vladimir Voinovich, Mikhail Zhvanetsky, Vasily Aksenov, and others.

And there will also be poems—reflecting what’s on the heart, inspiring, familiar, and the most beloved.

Irina Yasina is an economist, journalist, writer, and public figure. She is known for her speeches defending the rights of people with disabilities. In 2008–2011, she was a member of the Council for Civil Society Development and Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation. Daughter of Yevgeny Yasin, Russia’s Minister of Economy in 1994–1997. Author of the book “The History of an Illness,” where she candidly describes how she lives with multiple sclerosis.