It so happened that one of the most important values of a person — a sense of our roots, family, traditions, culture — has recently been increasingly heard in the disturbing context of newspaper and television news? Why is it customary today to affirm the virtues of one’s own people (as opposed to the «shortcomings» of others) with a fist and rebar?
The problem, I think, is not in nations, but in individuals. Individuals can always come to terms with individuals when peoples are unable to do so. Because only the individual is responsible for his actions. The people as a whole cannot bear responsibility for anything: after all, “everything” means no one, and there is no other responsibility than personal responsibility.
Therefore, it is impossible to agree on anything with someone’s «representative», saying, for example: «What about me? I do everything as mommy says (senior in rank, holy books, president, lads). A person absorbs everything vital from his national, religious, cultural roots, and in the process of self-development, and not just like that, by virtue of DNA or registration. The «representative» does not absorb anything: he himself dissolves in the environment, takes on its color, reflects what is around him, his inside is empty.
Each of us has national roots. They nourish us, as the roots of any plant deliver nutrients to flowers and fruits. And thanks to this, everything that exists grows, blooms, reaches for the sun and bears fruit — multi-colored, alive and not at all like its roots. Try to make the tree resemble its root system in everything: if you cut off everything that is unlike, you get a barren stump.
Individuals can always come to an agreement with individuals when peoples are not capable of it.
Traditions, cultural roots really give a person support. But the support is not a fence, they stand on it, but they do not close themselves in it. And not all traditions are equally good. Slavery, serfdom, gender inequality are also ancient traditions, from which humanity is getting rid of with some success. In different cultures, different aspects of the multifaceted human potential have been predominantly developed, and all peoples have something to learn: from China, the art of managing oneself; in France — to enjoy life; in the USA — to do business; Russia has to look for meaning. Neutrality in Switzerland, floriculture in the Netherlands
Each culture contains a large set of possibilities, giving us a chance to be conscious of them, to self-determine in relation to them, choosing one and rejecting the other. This is the path of the individual. She does not forget about the roots, but she cares more about the fruits. And the “representative” is too lazy to think, compare and choose, and he tries to find ready-made answers to all questions in advance in the roots. It does not bear fruit, it is the way of the stump.