UNITED STATES—If I need a vacation from my column, it’s time to get my shoes shined by Igor. On this occasion, very close to the Fourth of July, the philosophical shoe shiner kindles my appreciation for the country I live in and the one Igor chose.
“I just learned something,” Igor said, grinning, after launching the opening salvo of his customary colloquium while shining my shoes. “I learned that life is not fair.”
It is something that I knew already, but watching the game between Croatiaand Brazil in the World Cup, I was reminded of it. That is the funny thing about knowledge: we all have the knowledge within us, but it has to be triggered by something. More important than knowledge is access to the knowledge when it’s time to win the argument. When we need the knowledge, we often don’t have the access.
“Life is not fair.” Croatia is a little country that nobody else cares about. They played really well against this giant, Brazil, and lost. There was a penalty against them that should have been and one of Brazil’s goals shouldn’t have counted. Now I hear guys from little counties like Croatia living in the U.S.and they talk about the old country like it was Switzerland. They miss the food and the people and the life. I say, ‘Here, I’ll buy you a ticket to go back.’ And nobody wants it. Right now I will give you a ticket back toArmenia or Belize or Croatia, and nobody wants it.
“Meanwhile, people who are born in America, they often speak very badly about America. They have the freedom and the culture. The Americans grow up that way and they are confident they can say anything they want. I realize from my upbringing in Russia I naturally hesitate to speak ill about my old country, even if I am here on United States soil, because this is something conditioned from before we were born—from our mother’s fathers and our father’s. So from here the old country always looks like paradise. Is it not possible that all these praises and nostalgia for the old country mask a fear to talk about the old country truthfully? Nobody ever admits this, but there could be a fear; somebody could know somebody, who hears about this, and somebody in their family back home could be killed or kidnapped in the village back home. Switzerland,” Igor says with a chuckle.
Here in the United States we have the very greatest degree of freedom. A few other countries have level of freedom we can compare. Canada,Australia and Western Europe, but even their freedom is not full to the extent that it is in the U.S. They and the industrial counties around the world are in the middle. And the rest of the countries, are under the rule of the boss. There’s one boss, one rule, and you are never too far from the influence and the very long arm of the boss’ rule. Because we have the greatest freedom of any country, in America we can go very high into the light or we can go very dark. In the light we have Apple and Microsoft and Thomas Jefferson, and we can go very dark, where we will find Charles Manson and school shootings and drug addiction. Here we can become better and climb the ladder to the light or we can descend to the pit of darkness.
In America, the founders knew to separate the president, judge and congress. They broke the influence, but in these countries where there’s one boss you are never too far from the influence of personal power. If you are going to complain, who are you going to complain to? The judge is never too far from the president. They might be in-laws. People get the government they deserve. I don’t feel sorry for people who live that way. If they see a better system, is it their fault for not making a change and fixing it? Yes and no,” Igor says, looking down to appraise the gleam he’s coaxed from my shoe.
“The mighty and politics keep the upper hand. This is what happened toCroatia. They were playing in Brazil and the referee was Japanese. Brazil has all the land to expand that Japan needs; Brazil has business opportunities.Croatia, what does Croatia have for Japan? The referee may not be himself aware of these influences in him, but this is how it is. Life is not fair. And if you are one of the little guys, like Croatia, you’ve got to fight like Tyson or Mohammed Ali to win, so that there’s no doubt whatsoever about who won. You’ve got to stand on top of your opponent like a caveman, with fists raised in the air so everybody can see. Till there is no doubt about the victory and no opportunity the referees can argue about details: he punched too hard or too low. All is lost when they argue about details. Keep the opponent under your feet until everybody knows who won.”
Humorist Grady Miller, author of “Lighten Up Now: The Grady Diet,” (available on Amazon) can be reached at grady.miller@canyon-news.com.
