Monday was Ukrainian Independence Day, and a Ukrainian friend sent me a video of an art installation some of her compatriots presented two years ago at Burning Man. Called “I’m Fine,” it consisted of a DJ playing haunting music in front of large letters that spelled out the words “I’M FINE.” As the camera zoomed in on the letters, you saw that each was made up of road signs, all of them riddled with bullets. “I’m fine,” the narrator explained, is what Ukrainians now say when people ask them how they’re doing. Many people do this, of course, when they’re really struggling, or hurting, or suffering. But for Ukrainians it is not a lie, it is an act of defiance. Also, saying “I’m fine” is a way of becoming fine.
