It is somewhat reluctantly that I write you in response to the opinion piece, 'Will the two Ukraines become one?' (Feb. 24, page 8). Then again, this has been on my mind a while and I might as well spill it now.
Before I continue, however, I must caution that my words will likely offend a great portion of the Ukrainian diaspora. While it is not my intent to offend anyone, I find the author's general points indicative of many a conversation I have had with members of the diaspora community; points which I consider to be misguided and close-minded, although sincere and far from destructive. Then again, neither are they constructive. It is for this reason that I feel that the other side of the coin deserves an audience.
To what exactly do I refer? To explain, allow me to tell you of the Ukraine which I know and love. It is a beautiful country consisting of rolling plains and majestic mountain ranges. Of wide rivers and innumerable clear lakes. It is a country gathered around small campfires after a day of fishing, a country singing songs and dancing dances. It is also a land of a long and often sad – even embarrassing – history. A country of brave uprisings, less brave pogroms, civil war, famine. In short, the Ukraine that I love, in spite of her occasional scars and ungainliness, exists. She is real and tangible and I would not trade her for another.
Unfortunately, the Ukraine of which the diaspora learned from parents is usually a Ukraine seen through rose-colored glasses. Like many people who at one point left their home country for an unknown realm, Ukrainians who settled in the West created myths about their home country.
When times were hard for immigrants in North America in the 1880s, it was easy to remember the good times in their old country. While I do not contend, or even believe, that emigree Ukrainians falsified reports of the homeland, the stories passed down to their offspring are certainly idealized. I've had many a conversation with Ukrainians (from Lviv, too, of all places!) who bring up the fact that members of the diaspora do not understand modern Ukraine, her fears or her hopes; that, yes, the diaspora do indeed believe in a mythological Ukraine.
Unfortunately, that myth that has fostered a general attitude among many diaspora Ukrainians that prevents them from finding common ground with their cousins from Ukraine. The minds of many Westerners of Ukrainian descent with whom I converse are clearly tied to one vantage point! 'Ukraine for Ukrainians,' they say, without realizing how harsh this sounds to the ears of anyone who ever heard 'Germany for Germans.' One time an American lamented to me of the oppressed state of the Ukrainian people under both Poland and Moscow. Yes, I commented, Ukrainians, as well as the Jews, had hard times under those regimes.
The Jews, she nearly cried, they didn't care! Whoever was in charge, they served. 'Nashi ushli, nashi prishli.' They never tried to help the Ukrainians. (This from a holder of a master's degree from an American university; who said education begot enlightenment?) Excuse me, I said, but what is your last name again? Yes, yes, she said, I know, Danielchiuk [name changed, but you get the idea].
Or, here's a good one; in writing down one man's e-mail address, as he dictated it to me, I was thinking how most logically to write in Latin letters his name, which I, naturally, saw in my mind in Cyrillic letters. 'What,' he asked, seeing my hesitation, 'don't you know the Ukrainian alphabet?' 'Well, I thought I did,' I sheepishly replied, not understanding him at first. He then spelled his name out, and I saw a perfectly good rendering of a common Ukrainian name in Polish! Didn't he understand? He had just finished a ten-minute ranting about how terrible it was that a Ukrainian athlete from eastern Ukraine spelled her last name in -aya, that terrible, poisoned Russianized way! This was a big deal for him. But he was blind to his own Polacized name. Excuse me, but anyone with a 'CZ' or even a 'W' in their surname, when ostensibly in English, should be ashamed of themselves, by that logic. Giving in to the Poles like that! As for being upset with Ukrainians speaking Russian in Donetsk (or in Kyiv, for that matter) as opposed to the indigenous Ukrainian language, how many diaspora people from New York speak any Iroquois dialects?
I hope your readers will forgive my indulging in the above anecdotes and rambling. I have only related a small fraction of what I have heard, although there is much more just as amusing.
I can merely hope that some in the diaspora pause and think about their frequently inconsistent arguments. Enough already about Ukraine in search of an identity! Ukrainians know exactly who they are. It is the descendants of emigrants who are confused. Will the two Ukraines ever become one? Of course not. There is only one real Ukraine. She is the one who is alive and breathing. The other is best left to North American summer camps and bedtime stories.
As for me, I will admit here to having vented a little steam. Hopefully, this will suffice me for some time.
Alexander Kountouriotis, who is French, has lived in Kyiv for 11 years working in the FMCG industry.
