Размышление

I’m sure that the groups that I fall into change the way that I view the world. I am a white mormon male who lives on the west coast. I know that I have a lot of artifacts from that. As an American, especially as a christian American, I value growth and progression. Growing up in the west coast, I am surrounded by a culture that values positivity and optimism. Being a man, I believe that it is my duty to create a life and a character which will lend itself to helping and protecting others. In many ways I think Misha and I are similar.

Both Misha and I care about our families. Both of us care about God and make a conscious effort to bring ourselves closer to Him. Both of us believe that hard work is important, and both of us value connection, to the point that both of us had our grandparents living with our families for a part of our lives. We also both enjoy music and enjoy being lighthearted and having fun.

Maybe the most significant differences (if you could really call them that) is in how we view connection outside of the family and the motivation behind our work. It seemed to me that while Misha cared deeply about the relationships that he already had, and would work hard to sustain them, shallower relationships were less important to him. Maybe it’s not part of Russian culture, but its interesting how the language reflects this shift in connection. Russian the progression from Девушка to Знакома to Подруга to Девушка again reflects an increasing level of trust and knowledge. English has artifacts of this progression (ie we call someone we barely know an acquaintance and someone we know well a friend), but, especially in a college environment where most relationships tend to be shallow, the usage of acquaintance is rare and in my opinion offensive. I don’t know if I could call it a part of Russian culture, but I definitely recognize in Misha a value of real, genuine depth of connection, a foreign concept in the fast paced shallow social environment of college live.

Another way in which we might differ is the point of hard work. Misha is, and for as long as I’ve known him always has been, someone who works very hard. I think that I also work hard, but I think that my hard work is often self serving. I study hard because I want to get good grades. I make an effort to get an education because I think that a good education will give me a more comfortable life, a life where I have more freedom to do what I want. Misha’s hard work is of a different nature. He knows that education is important, but it seems like his motivation for working hard and filling his life with valuable pursuits has more to do with the inherent value of working hard rather than the personal benefit that he can gain from it. His hard work is done for the sake of working hard, a valuable trait that is a distant cousin from the American version of the same idea.

I am thoroughly americanized, and I think Russians and Ukrainians who move to the United States adopt the culture that they are transplanted into. Talking with my friend Misha was an interesting experience, our conversations were in Russian, talking about Ukrainian culture, but our conversations still felt very, very American. Despite this americanization of his culture, losing some of the edges as a result of a life mostly lived in the United States, I could recognize some of the Ukrainian values that still persist within him. Values like genuine connection and hard work.

I think that this project changed the way that I view eastern European culture. My hope with learning Russian is to gain a different understanding of the world that is in contrast with my own, and I think that recognizing the values of working hard and deep connection are rare. It also was fun talking with a friend in Russian, and I feel a lot better about having a conversation now compared to how I felt before the project.