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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Holiday Salutations!

13 July, 1999 - 00:00

By Dmytro SKRIABIN, The Day
Sunday, July 4, marked two holidays that people in Ukraine might care to
know of or celebrate: Maritime and River Transport Worker's and US Independence
Day. With regard to the former, President Kuchma called on all those marine
and river workers to show better and more competitive work, wishing them
all the "hard-earned achievements ensuing from their romantic, inspiring
profession," hoping that their near and dear ones would fare well while
all those workers labored "in the name of the prosperity of the free and
independent seafaring Ukrainian state."

223 years ago, Thomas Jefferson, one of America's Founding Fathers,
third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote that
"all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness." Precisely the words laid down in the Declaration
of Independence of the former British colonies that have since formed the
basis for the prosperity of the free and independent United States.

Feel the difference? Here one is always supposed to labor for the sake
of one's country's happiness, not one's own. Across the ocean they assume
that one should be provided the conditions to feel happy about living in
and working for one's country. Of course, our ideologues always scorned
this "rotten capitalist individualism." Instead, the older generation remembers
these lines: "We shall bravely fight for the Soviets' cause/ And shall,
if need be, all die in this noble fight." Such is our way, and if we have
not died fighting for it, we will live working according to the song, "My
only concern is that my native land live and prosper."

Celebrating US  Independence Day has its history in Kyiv. Three,
maybe four years ago, it was greeted on Lake Telbin. The last few years,
festivities have been staged at the Spartak Stadium. The very choice of
sites testifies to the US Embassy lighthearted approach to this important
event. Indeed, no Ukraine Palace official pomp, complete with officials
droning on for an hour giving a detailed review of America's ups and downs
over the past 223 years. Believe it or not, no one on those festive occasions
called for dedicating all of one's creative and physical strength to building
the independent American state. On the contrary, after serving free chicken
and Slavutych beer to all in attendance, there was much Dixieland music,
volleyball, and paratroopers landing on the field, greeted by a cheering
well-fed and somewhat tipsy audience. And there were children running around,
happy that no one told them to keep quiet and behave. Hard as this author
tried to deliver a brief congratulatory speech, nobody seemed interested,
telling him to relax and enjoy himself (insulting at first perhaps, but
then accepted as a matter of course).

What makes them so happy? I asked myself and detected a note of jealousy.
Is it that they are served all the free Coca Cola and ice cream they can
consume? The more so that when I approached a table to imbibe the delicious
cold drink I was amazed to identify the dispenser as a major US company
executive operating in Ukraine, and then I spotted others of the same caliber,
doing the same. Now could you picture a Ukrainian Cabinet bureaucrat serving
lemonade and beer on Khreshchatyk on August 24?

And as the festivities approached their close I found myself witness
to something absolutely unbelievable, a conversation between a well-built
handsome Black American serving Slavutych beer and a couple of Ukrainian
militia patrolmen.

"How about a couple of beers?" one of the patrolmen asked good-humoredly.

"You're on duty, wearing the uniform, aren't you?" came the reply.

"Aw, forget the duty, it's so hot, you know."

The Black American's reply showed that he had spent quite some time
in Kyiv:

"Suppose your duty officer finds out?"

"Look, don't worry it, we can take care of him. Just give us that beer,
there's a good boy!"

The man did, serving them two glasses and there were two more happy
men during the US Independence Day festivities in Kyiv. And there were
the Kyivans watching the celebration from across the stadium fence. The
heat was oppressive, yet they stood there.

One has an inspiring thought: maybe 215 years from now there will be
such festivities in Ukraine somewhere? Yet one should always remember that
Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma cut different figures than Thomas Jefferson.

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