It so happens that all changes for the better occur in our
world slowly and gradually, taking one small step at a time, and changes
for the worst frequently remind one of an earthquake. Perhaps the law of
cosmic entropy is at work to increase the chaos, or the reason is our character?
Scientists are not sure, but the sad fact remains. Thus, I always expect
from each new year one and the same thing, for the vector of unexpected
shifts to stop being one-sided and for the sudden lightning changes to
be not only negative, but also positive; the way things are is quite unfair.
Allow me to give several examples.
You go to bed in the evening, everything seems normal and quiet. Then
you wake up in the morning and all of a sudden find inflation, biting Siberian
frost, yet another jump in utility rates or other costs, or some other
accursed nuisance. And mind you, it happens overnight, coming right out
of the blue.
It has taken us long centuries to become prepared for freedom and democracy.
Then all of a sudden we found ourselves cursing democracy and turning away
from freedom in disgust, because freedom appeared different from what we
had expected. It just does not fit into our pattern. What a sudden jump
in that same dark direction.
Another example. For years on end you have been taking leisurely strolls
in a big grove over the Dnipro, then one day just can't find the place.
Gone! The oaks have been chopped down, instead of grass and wild flowers
you find asphalt and hundreds of parked cars, and the place is surrounded
by a tall concrete fence. Just think how many years it took that grove
to reach its splendor and offer us a small haven in the heart of the megalopolis!
Or take the Church of the Mother of God at Pyrohoshcha. They had hardly
finished restoration work when the structure became covered by damp spots.
One would expect the fresh paint to liven it up, not make it look ugly.
Roman Emperor Diocletian is known to have unexpectedly abdicated at
the peak of his power and retreated to a backwater province to indulge
in his favorite occupation, planting and tending cabbage. They say that
he did it because of his contempt for his subjects. Can we expect to live
to see a single legislator or ranking government bureaucrat follow suit,
even if also for contempt? I wish so, for this would really mean a change
in direction.
It also often happens that a well-known person whose every word or deed
you trust implicitly suddenly turns out to be utterly corrupt, even criminal,
and an inveterate anti-Semite. So I want this situation reversed, so we
could discover virtuous knights in some of our coarse politicians.
Nozdrev, one of Nikolai Gogol's characters, tells about how Chichikov,
fearing imminent arrest, replaced a million of counterfeit rubles with
genuine banknotes overnight. Here such operations are commonplace, except
that the procedure is reversed.
Overnight all our talented journalists have begun publishing scandal
sheets.
Quite recently television programs were created by educated people for
their ordinary audiences; television cultivated erudition and good taste.
Then, also practically overnight, our channels started pouring out stuff
leaving us stunned and not knowing what to do to somehow raise it at least
to our own intellectual level.
You close your eyes, open them and instead of a personality you see
a living doll on your TV screen, made according to the best technical standards,
looking human and even talking, but a machine nonetheless.
Of course, there are exceptions from the rule, unexpected joys, however
small, such as the remarkable adventures of one people's Deputy in Switzerland.
Now who would have expected such public entertainment from him? After all,
the world is changing for the better, even though slowly. And I am not
worried about the lawmaker. In his own way he is brilliant and will figure
out how to crack Swiss bank safes as well.
I could cite examples on and on, for the list is long enough to last
until the year 2000, so best I stop here.
Finally, dear reader, I will deliver a New Year prophecy, although I
am no clairvoyant, not like our Globa. I can predict that in a couple of
months we will be in for a very pleasant change, spring. It is sure to
come, no doubt about it. Happy New Year!






