On the 5th of March, 2022, I heard “Hardcore is in the city.” while doing street photography.
It happened on Warsaw’s streets in the Okecie neighborhood (Wlochy district). It was 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). I walked in summer clothes (including shorts, sneakers, and the www.adammazek.com t-shirt) and winter clothes (winter hat and gloves). Suddenly, I saw a group of three people. I would say that they were, more or less, twenty years old. When they saw me, they looked at me with amazement. One of them said to the rest:
Hardcore is in the city. / Hardcore jest w mieście.
When I heard it, I smiled at them, and we went in our own directions. I realize that hardcore people are in Ukrainian cities when I think about it. No, I do not write about fucking Russian soldiers. All the Ukrainians are hardcore people who face evil. Today the devil has Putin’s face. I hope he will die soon, no matter if he is poisoned or shot by one of his close aides. War is toxic. I knew it earlier, but today I know it, and I feel it. War poured toxins into my blood, mind, heart, and soul. I never felt so much aggression towards one man as I feel today for Putin.
I hate him.
Today, the war did not reach me directly. Still, when I know that my neighbor is being bombarded by the Russian regime, I know that war can soon get me straight. I want to be hardcore in the city by wearing summer clothes in frigid temperatures, not killing the Russian soldier. I want to hold a camera in my hand, not a gun. The truth is that I want to shoot great street photos, not shoot fucking Russian invaders. At the end of this writing, I want to stress, once again, that all Ukrainians are truly hardcore people.
