From Russia With Love

(Well, you knew that post title was coming sooner or later ... hehe). You know Titus, I've pondered this myself. As you know in our business we come across a varying array of nationalities, and at my current employ the international clientele is as large & diverse as any property I've worked. And I always make a point, once I discern guest A, B or C is Eastern European, to steer the conversation into the political. And particularly the 30-something crowd. Their interest, grasp and proficiency in history, politics and languages rarely disappoints. This also typically applies to young Israelis.

So, I asked a "friend" of mine (we exchanged emails & face book info), named Yuri, a current resident of Moscow (& he gave me $150 Rubles to take home, they're at 30:1 against the dollar), why it is so many Eastern Europeans are fully engaged regarding their own history and politics and so proficcient in multiple languages. And he had a simple answer - "it's in our blood." And that got me to thinking ... and this is my hypothesis, see if you agree:

For many parts of the world, up into very recent history, even up to this very second, politics can be a matter of life and death. Coups; secret police; invasions; this is the stuff of everyday life, or at least, everyday concerns. We (in the US) are "victims" (for a lack of a better word) of our own success. For 60 years no danger of an army invading. No naval blockade is even within the realm of possibility. Our economic prowess (despite recent turns) is the envy of the world. Our youth are face down in facebook, Ipods, smart phones, and reality TV because all of the heavy lifting was born by their parents and grandparents (this generalization excludes our men and women currently in uniform, of course). 9/11 changed some of this, but what was the first advice on "patriotism" offered by our government after the attacks? "Go shopping!" In short, our youth's apathy in the realm of language, history and politics exists because they don't have to be aware/proficient of any of these to either get a job or feel safe.

Add to this the geographical orientation of Europe and the Mid East - numerous nations piled one on top of another. You could drive from CA to Virginia, for days on end, and never be in anything approaching close proximity to a foreign border. Traverse that same distance along the Caucasus South of Russia and you will travel through no less then four nations. Some friendly, some not (depending on your own nationality). Same with the Mid East, same with Western Europe.

Now look, I'm not knocking my own nation. As my fair skinned Ruskie said last night, "I love this country." It is the finest to ever grace God's green earth. And these are certainly generalizations - across the US there are private academies from elementary to high school, as well as universities, which produce students well schooled in each of these areas. What we're talking about here is that same level of interest, knowledge and opinion can be found with a bread maker in Eastern Europe, not just a graduate of an exclusive boarding school.

I wonder - amidst the tail end of the Pax Romana when multiple generations of Romans had experienced relative domestic peace and success , was the everyday Roman, or his bourgeoisie benefactor, less engaged in such areas as compared to his predecessor in the early days of the Roman Republic? Or is this phenomena unique to the American experience for the reasons I laid out above?