We were keeping a 24-hour vigil at the television tower. It was very peaceful there - for the soul it was even better than at home. Sitting at home you just wipe away the tears and grieve as you grasp the television and radio in your hands. But here there are so many people, gathered together from every corner of Lithuania. Everyone if good, warmhearted, united and selfless. Standing here you feel that you're necessary, that you're a worthy human being (it's not important whether you're old or not), that you're representing the industrious Lithuanian nation in the fight for independence. We were astonished and delighted by the kindness, sincerity, concern, unity, and patience of the people of Vilnius, especially those who live near the TV tower. Everywhere - by the TV tower itself, or at the bottom of the slope - coffee, tea and broth were on tap from tea-pots, coffee-pots, bottles, and Thermoses. And the women of Vilnius were carrying sandwiches, cakes, and cookies in their bags.
One woman who didn't live far from the tower was so kindly treating vigilers to Siberian nuts - cooked cedar cones! As far as I could see, she was a pensioner, and had brought out and given all of her last supplies to the people chilled from the cold. Others offered places to rest, warm up, or spend the night... I was deeply touched by the kindness of these unknown people of Vilnius - it stimulated the goodness that was deeply hidden and hardly smoldering in my own heart.
No television or radio program could convey the kindness of these people. I could only feel that human sincerity, that solidarity, that unity, as we stood there, shoulder to shoulder, our hands joined, and our hearts quivering in the same rhythm.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 119-120.