Russia the Giant

 9363  Russia the Giant 20220405

Someone asked: “How can you say that Russia is a giant when their GDP is so small?”

GDP is not the only criteria to define a giant.  It’s the same with China.  China had been a very poor country.  Yet it’s certain that China is a Giant.

Russia is a most human like people.  It is because they were from the far North. They need to fight very hard to survive in extreme conditions. They are determined and very strong.  During the recently Covid lock down, Russians were same with everywhere else, rushing to shop in the supermarkets. It is strange to see that the most seek upon object was salt.  It reflects their ancient life when they have caught an animal and have to eat the meat raw but they have very little salt by that time. The ancient memory is still in the minds of the Russian. They can't forget the hard experience and remain a strong mentality. 

And they were far from bad culture pollutions.  Other Giants had suffered from culture pollution. For example, there were no “Ah Q” * in Russia. Confucianism had created Ah Q in China only. The Russians do have weak characters, you can find most of them in the Russian literature, yet there has not been a disease of Ah Q in the Russian mind. They are wise and  straightforward. And the Western materialism thought had not been influential in the Russian mind. They were not money oriented as some Western people did.  

Maybe they are not "smart" in the Western eye. It’s because of their geographical circumstance of coldness.  They were too busy fighting in the wild having less time to ponder the physics of the nature like the ancient Greeks. Maybe the only setback is their practical mind. They do not have much time to deal with abstract concepts like the early Greeks. When Peter the Great went to Europe disguised as a shipyard worker, he wanted to learn technical knowledge but not theory. 

Yet the Russians are great learners. Since the times of Peter the Great, the Russians were learning with a big effort. 

Now they have the most advanced literature and music, anyone who had read Leo Tolstoy or other Russian writers, may admit their literature is one of the best in the world. There were only a few could have reached that standard. For example, Victor Hugo from France or the Unknown Chinese writer who had written "the Dream of the Red Chamber” were comparable to Leo Tolstoy.  

And when Solzhenitsyn the great writer was in the United States, Many Journalists could not understand why he chose to live in the coldest place in the States. Why he didn’t choose a more comfortable place instead? They had found it mockingly funny. They could not understand it was the mother earth of Russia in his mind. When he said the American music were unbearable and criticized the American culture, they felt insulted. And he had never had a chance to publish his later books in the States.

Russian music is the noble spirit of Russia. You don't have to compare Tchaikovsky or the Swan Lake with the West, you only need to listen to Shostakovich and his Waltz no. 2, you will find it is far more subtle and deep in feeling then most of the Western Waltz music. The suffer and setbacks of the European people were not as far as the Russian. They were waltzing around in a different mood. And music is the few subjects that you cannot compare which one is better or worse. The hidden power of Bach, Mozart or Beethoven were in the minds of Russian too. They are only different. The sanctions given to the Russia music, will be a shame for the United States in history. 

The Russians were the first to try Communism which was an unforgivable crime in the eyes of the rich elites in the West. Though they had not been successful yet it is the first attempt to try to run the country in a collective way, which might be another option to handle human affairs. And there were ups and downs of the communism movement. Sad things did happen. It was too big an attempt and they were lacking necessary experience and deep thought about that.  

There were seen or unseen wars against Russia since then. The hatred against Russia and even China has never stopped. And it was by this time, the true side of human mind were shown. That the truth was not decided by the truth itself, but interests. Money was the only standard of truth. If communism was a threat to the rich, then it was evil and must be destroyed. 

And the world had changed. Something very strange did happen in the human mind and was neglected. Most of the world did not notice that humans had entered a time of “curiosity lost” during the time of the conflict between US and Russia. 

Most of the enthusiasm about knowledge had gone. The sudden shock of the whole world when Charles Darwin first presented his theory of evolution did not happen a second time. When electricity was first discovered, you saw how people flew their kites to the cloud trying to “catch” the electricity, people will not repent even the experiment had failed and many people died for this attempt and people are eager to quest the nature even more. However, all the curiosity had disappeared now.  

The time of curiosity had ended. We were in a stage of “curiosity lost”. When people heard that there was other thing called “Qi” which might be the other power other than electricity, they just shrugged their shoulders.  The fever to know is subsided. Scientist are thinkers no more; they are now makers only. When they had found a job in some huge factory, they simply work to make the products and do not question further. 

We might not aware that the curiosity lost is related to the political conflict when people are deep in the thought to fight for the interest of a few rich elites, they had forgotten the internal question of “why”. Why are we here on this planet? It is only a joke for them. 

Now there is a deeper conflict in Ukraine and other mishaps like the Covid virus in the planet. And one thing was sure that the virus problem will not destroy human and the Ukraine matter will be finished sooner or later. All rains will stop. There will not be a rain forever. The curiosity lost, which is a much serious illness of mankind will be gone also. And the three giants will be still standing side by side.  

One thing is sure that Russia will not be defeated and will be rich again. The Ukraine Episode will last for some more time but will not last forever. May be things need more time to be fixed. When everything was settled, we shall see a new atmosphere in the world. 

And the Russian will be happy to see, there will be a bigger change in China and the United States. The US will be forced to be friendly with the other giants. It is the only way out, if the American people ever wishes to be great again. 

Now we have three giants on this planet. And it is possible humans will get away from the trap of “curiosity lost” earlier if the planet people were in peace again.         

___________________________________________________________

Note: “Ah Q” was a character created by the Chinese writer Lu Xun in a short story “The story of Ah Q”, which had had a great impact of the Chinese mind after the Ching Dynasty was overthrown. Ah Q represents the negative side of human nature under influence of Confucius. The negative thought had been deep in the subconscious mind in the Chinese culture and was not easy to change completely until now.