Americans or Russians, a Matter of Perception
My Czech neighbor from downstairs was in for coffee just the other day. Among the many things we stumbled through in his halting English, because I still speak only phrases of his language, one comment stayed with me and I haven't been able to shake it.
"Americans are just like Russians," he said, "only they are rich and Russians are poor." He's a man who speaks his mind and he smiled when he said it, so I don't know if it was meant as a put-down or just an observation. I let it ride, but I gotta tell you I was stunned and it made me think about myself, not as I know me, but as I am percieved by this friendly Czech. Life is mostly perception and reality has to find its own way through the woods.
Well we're not like Russians I wanted to argue, but choked it back and thought of what I'd read and heard of the Russian 'protectorate' and their oppressive answers to everything. How was it possible for him to see me like that, as merely a strong dollar against a weak ruble? Uneasily, I wonder…