WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH COURAGE TO READ!

            WE ARE READING LESS, so we don't know our history in detail. If you ask a Circassian about his/her history, he/she will tell you a few ordinary sentences which is not known very well by him/her. In Circassian Diaspora we are tought the history of the country where we live for more than fifteen or sometimes more years. Although we have tought for years, we don't know very well that history. But, after reading (only a few of does, most of them even don't do this) a few articles and only once, we claim that we know everything on Circassian history. Everybody says these are known facts but in real nobody know them which are said to be known oftenly. The main sentences we know; The Circassian War and Genocide (fortunately we learned this fact in the last fifteen or twenty years, most of us says “Circassian Immigration” before!), and our tribes names which our family belong to, nothing more. These are also known by nearly every Non-Circassian man or woman living in the same place with the Circassians. So we don't know more about our history than a Non-Circassian one. Before the internet, it was really difficult to reach the Circassian related documents which were really rare, so we had some excuses then. But today, there are lots of websites on Circassia and we can learn more easily and with less effort. So, the excuses we have are less than before. 

            WE ARE READING LESS, because we are so busy! We are so busy with chatting girls or boys, we are so busy with surfing the internet, we are so busy with listening music and learning the stories of (Non-Circassian) music group stories (Michael Jackson's death is more important for us than the death of our brothers), we are so busy with dealing with Politics (which always makes us weak), and we are so busy with dancing. These are important facts of our life. But, it doesn't matter if he/she is a Circassian or not, a modern people's life should not be always like this. These can be tought a hobby done only in free times, but our whole day mustn't be free. At least try to spend one hour for reading something on Circassia. 

            WE ARE READING LESS, because we haven't got big ideals. Reading causes having big ideals. And having big ideals causes the need of more imformation to materialize them and books are generally the best information storage. For example, if you live in your house and just watch TV, you don't need and axe, a rope, a map, and a guide. But, if you decided to see the top of the Mountain Elbruz one day, they would be a need for you. So you must find all of them otherwise you can't reach there. But, probably a good guide (who did this lots of times) is the most important one for you. A good guide can show you the easiest and safest ways and prevent you from dangerous slopes. Reading (history) is a good guide for us which always show the best ways, at least although it doesn't always give us the perfect one, it shows us the wrong ones which others have tried and failed before. 

            WE ARE READING LESS, because we are afraid to learn who we are and what we must do. Reading brings some responsibilities. Knowledge is really heavy and only the stronger ones can carry it. Changing your life style to a Circassian one is really difficult, especially if you are a bit old. Because, it means beginning a new life, and forgetting and losing most of the things we have now. Most people doesn't like the idea of beginning a new life at the age of 30, 40 or 50. Beginning a new life is declaring the confession of the wrongness of a former life. And nobody wants to say that he/she did the same mistakes thousands of times during 30, 40, 50 years. From the other side, Circassia is where we belong to, not here, which we really afraid to hear. A polar bear can not live in Africa, a whale can not live in a desert, a zoo can not be a home for a wolf, you can not have an eagle in your car. A polar bear belong to cold, freezy norths, a whale is the animal of the oceans, a wolf can only be a real wolf only in the wild environment of a forest, an Eagle always needs mountains to live and fly freely. Have you ever seen a wolf in a cage in a zoo? He never looks like a wolf any more. It is not the legendary animal told in the stories. It is weak and afraid. Look at the pictures of our ancestors! Can't you see the differences between them and us? Diaspora is not our home and we belong to the Mountains of Circassia. WE CAN LIVE IN DIASPORA BUT WE CAN NEVER BE A REAL CIRCASSIAN IF WE DON'T GO HOME!

            WE ARE READING LESS, so our philosophers are less famous than our warriors. We know the names of lots of warriors, heros, how many of us know the name of a philosopher in Circassian history and today? Is there any empty place on your wall for even a single philosopher where is completely full of the pictures of warriors? The Circassian writers whose works are the memories and voices of a nation has never attracted any interest up to now. Our philosophers who attends the wars with their pens and who have been really always rare during our history are as important as our warriors. Because, they are always the sparks of freedom wars sand the engineers of the ruined countries after the destructive big wars during the world history. We always say something about the Victory but what will happen after it? Will we fight with guns against poverty, economy, laws, foreign affairs ... etc? Everybody knows Şeyh Şamil as one of the biggest commander of all times, but only some know that even during the wars he never give up reading and he carries lots of books -which can be said as a mobile library- wherever he goes. So we always say him as a great commander but we never say how a great philosopher he is. Why?

          As I have said before, our ancestors didn't die to be forgotten. Reading is to remember them. Reading is a challenge to be ready to change the life style which needs sometimes more courage than fighting in a war.

Sincerely,
Kenugi J. UBYKH