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Reconciliation with tradition
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:date: 2022-07-07T09:59:56
:status: draft
:category: faith
:tags: KChO, PCF,
One of many surprises I have experienced after 1989 was how
different was trajectory of development of different
post-Communist nations. And what was even more shocking was how
much these trajectories followed their previous history and
tradition. It is widely accepted by historians that pre-War
Czechoslovakia was truly exceptional island of democracy in the
Central Europe (with serious problems in its policy towards
national minorities). Polish regime of general Pilsudski was more or
less democratic, but it has some very unpleasant characteristics:
part of the opposition was quite violently and probably
unlawfully persecuted, it was quite militaristic, but overall it
was more or less democratic free regime, and its glory is shining
lot on the background of the following horrible regimes, Nazi
occupation and Communist regime. Hungary regime of admiral Horty
was not even pretending to be democracy. In 1989 we started from
quite similar starting places, all of us coming fresh from the
oppression of Communism, and it was shocking how twenty years
later we are in quite similar places. Czechia is still more or
less functional democracy, which so far managed to resist all
attempt to destroy it (and we have still problems with our only
remaining national minority … Roma), Poland is again democracy
with serious problems in the division of powers, rule of law and
freedom of press (opposition is not violently oppressed,
thankfully), and Hungary is an authoritarian regime which doesn’t
even pretend much.
My teenage daughter came to me couple of weeks ago and shared
with me her constant feeling of unease with her classmates. She
felt weird how she was exceptional among her peers as not having
divorced parents and not being separated from them. I could just
affirm her observation, because I was in her age exactly in the
same position. And marriage of my parents was not always rosy,
exactly in that age my parents were struggling through strong
conflicts with one another. My father wanted to buy a house and
move to another part of Prague, while my Mum wanted to stay.
Their arguments were sometimes so loud that I couldn’t stay in
our home, and I have to run away. However, somehow they managed
to stay together, and I could never be enough thankful to them
for this example. Yes, our marriage with Markéta is sometime
a bit loud and we have sometimes struggled with our arguments,
but so far from God’s mercy we are still together, twenty-five
years later.
Czech nation has to be one of the biggest specialists in starting
from scratch again. After the renewal of the very existence of
our nation, language, etc. our ancestors started from the middle of the
nineteenth century rebuild Czech industry, Czech politics started
on the municipal and regional level and since then until the
early twentieth century they managed to get Czech lands to the
level of that mentioned pre-War democracy and economically
Czechoslovakia was among ten most developed industrial nations in
the world. And then the First World War came and lot of what was
build was destroyed together with security and business
environment of the Austrian empire. Czechs (and Slovaks, where
the situation was even more complicated, because they were
largely missing on the development of the second half of the
nineteenth century. It took twenty years to reestablish economy,
bringing up new leaders of both nation and industry, and then it
was destroyed by even worse Second World Wars. And we can
continue: starting again in 1945, 1968, and after 1989, fifth
time in hundred and fifty years. No wonder there is a lot of
hopelessness and collecting enthusiasm to start again is
complicated and painful process.
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