Hi again from Gary.

No I’m not on a sabbatical, just ruminating. Some posts are harder than others to put together.  

Several days ago I saw an interesting program on “The History Channel” TV series about “Our Generation”. The program title was “Duck And Cover”. As soon as I saw the title on the program listing, I knew I had to watch the program. That phrase “duck and cover” brought back a huge swath of memory about the times in grade school at about age 10 when the teacher would describe the white light we must be sure to not look at. And then came the drills. The teacher would give the command “duck and cover” and our required response was to conceal our small bodies under even smaller desks.

Even at this tender age we thus understood that something big and sinister was afoot. Especially since in those early days of television we saw many newscasts about backyard fallout shelters and ads for survival goods.

And thus inoculated with fear and ill-regard toward the malevolent empire in the east, we went forward with our lives and became yet more educated about Russia, the superpower, our arch rival.

We learned about its constrictive, suppressive, communist system, its anti-religious belief system whereby all citizens pay homage only to the state, and its total devotion to world domination including over America.

If we paid attention during high school, we learned about Russia’s Bolshevik revolution and perhaps could even pass a test question that asked “who were the Romanovs?”, the correct answer being that they were a dynastic family that ruled Russian until they were murdered by the Bolsheviks.

Throughout most of the last 50 years, to most people in America, Russia was to be greatly feared as the “evil empire”. Though recently subdued (thanks to the Tomcat and the greenback), this immense land is still a force to be reckoned with on the world scene. Yet, for the most part we deal with Russia and Russian people from a place of total ignorance because to most Americans, the extent of understanding of Russian history is that first there was not communism, then there was, and now again there is not. 

We in America, not too long ago, celebrated out 200 year anniversary. And as a nation composed of immigrants, we are no strangers to foreign cultures and different ways of doing and being. And yet we are only very early in the development of an “American” culture, the cornerstone of which we label “personal freedom”. But to begin to understand Russia and therefore its people we need to adjust our thinking to recognize that Russian history goes back almost 2000 years.

That’s 2000 years of coalescing, invasions, conquering, growth followed by decay followed by growth - - always influenced by but never lead by the concurrent happenings in Constantinople, or Rome, or Paris, or London. Russia was part of the development of Christianity, contributed generously to man’s collection of great works of art, suffered through numerous despotic rulers, and in turn was blessed by several of history’s giant leaders.

All of this has contributed to the development of the Russian psyche which in it’s mystery and enigmatic nature is not easily understood. I may have this quote wrong, but I believe it was Henry Kissinger who said that “Russia is an enigma within an enigma”. (Post a comment to correct me - - thanks.)

So here’s the bottom line to all of this for men that seek a Russian wife. Learn about this culture and try to understand. It was created by a strong and proud people who developed wisdom in the process of its creation. If you want a Russian woman in your life you can’t afford to not make the investment in learning about her culture. And always remember, “you can take a woman out of Russia, but you can’t take Russia out of the woman”. I said that - - and you can comment about that too - - please.

Goodbye for now - - next I will post about a major special day for Russians, Easter.

Until then, my best wishes for you and yours.

Gary

P.S. And speaking of Russian culture, know that in their cooking, they are masters of soup making. I’ve posted a great soup recipe on our “Misc. Video Clips ” page . Check and enjoy. 

Technorati: