Gift or Punishment

In a butterfly life, every second has a vital importance. Minutes are like months and days are like years for them. If there isn't any emergency, we don't care much seconds or minutes, we generally deal with years and centuries. But, in nations life, centuries are like days which are not thought to be long. Beginnings and endings are always incredibly long considering the avarage human life. Nations are never born in a day or die in a week. Sometimes nations death last more than two – three centuries. Nations history are a collection of milions of individual (short) lives. Individual life ends in 70 – 100 years old, but nations life go on its way with the fear of waiting the last individual life ending. So, the last individual ending of a nation is also the ending of a whole nation.

In holly books, the sudden endings of nations generally caused by disasters are described deeply. Most of them are represented as a punishment of the Creator. They did something wrong, and as a punishment the whole nation sentenced to death. So, our community members are oftenly (“oftenly” shows the urgency and importance of the matter) mentioning about the ending of Circassian nation. Then we must think and talk about what the possible reason of us to be punished by the Creator if this is a punishment!?

“Always tell the truth, never tell a lie”, “be helpful”, “be respectful to each other and yourself especially to the olds”, “save the environment”, “take care of your neighbours”, “be hospitable”, “don't gossip”, “save your country and fight for it if needed”, “be honorable”, “be clean”, .... these are the general qualities of an ordinary Circassian men or woman, and desired as quality of a perfect person mainly in all religions. In Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism without any exception they are all advised to maintain a perfect community. If you gossip, you commit a sin in these four main religions. If you don't tell the truth and tell a lie, you are a sinner. If you disobey the Circassian tradition rules oftenly, you are excluded by your family members and you are not protected anymore by your relatives which means you have no way except than leaving that place.

Our ancestors never told a lie (may be as a individual but never as a whole nation), they were always helpfull to their neighbours during the peace and war times, if needed they fought and died for their neighbours, they were respectful to each other and themselves and especially to the olds that is why they created probably the most important council consisted of the olds in the world, the olds were always the last speakers of our nation, who were listened carefully and never protested, they saved the environment, the traditional Circassian villages are famous for fruit trees and gardens, their best old friends were always trees which never betrayed them (not only the Circassian people in Circassia but also the trees are looking forward for their old friends), and also our ancestors never betrayed them and in the last war, in the last moment one of our famous 100 years old warrior was killed mercilessly while trying to defend an apple tree, they were always hospitable even when they saw the Russian soldiers on the cost of Black Sea, they said “Welcome!” at first to their visitors who later they learned they were just not visiting, they tried to save their country for thousands of years heroically, they had honorable lives, they never chose dishonorable ways to survive more, they lived, killed and died in an honorable way, some of the Circassian families were rich and some others were poor but their houses, gardens, clothes ... were always as clean as possible, you could see a Circassian man in old clothes but it was impossible to able to see any of them in dirty clothes, not only their ownings but also their thoughts were as clean as them.

So why did the creator punish us? Why were we exciled? Why did we have to go on our lives in different parts of the world? I will say you something different now. MAY BE it was a gift!

It was a gift for us. You can say what kind of a gift it was! May be the Creator didn't want this perfect community to be disappeared forever, so the Creator wanted us to live in a foreign country for a short time. This was the only choice of our ancestors to survive, and went on their struggle. Although they were defeated and exiled, in the countries where they went they welcomed as the heroes and heroines of the high mountains, especially by the Ottomans. They never thought to be as a minority but they were thought to be as an important part of their countries. This was a great honour (in my opinion although some thinks it as a way of assimilation).

It was a gift for Diaspora countries. May be the Creator wanted the other people to learn their struggle and their life styles. Nearly all the Diaspora countries indebted to Circassian people for their contributions. They did whatever they could do to make perfect the places wherever they went. Their perfect life styles were presented as a model for other nations. Our life styles were always a point of curiosity. Nearly all the places where the Circassian villages were settled are green. They changed the environment and the culture of Diaspora countries which have caused a total progress. Moreover, although they had the same origin, they always thought to be the guardian of the unity and indepence of Diaspora countries.

Nobody can know the Creator's real ideas, opinions, gifts, punishment ... etc. But, we can only try to understand or comment the Creator's sayings with the view of the religions we belong to. But, I don't think that our ancestors were punished (because I couldn't find any logical reason of their being punished), new generation can understand this well if we are able to come back homeland. Although we have been abroad for more than 150 years, we are still alive as a Circassian (of course we have some cultural losings, but not only us but also all cultures lost something in the last century) and still had the dreams of the coming back to homeland! And today new generation is more eager to learn this history and culture! At least they still have Circassian spirit! Now it must be time to be united and independent in our homeland to prove that it was a gift not a punishment!

May be it was a gift for us to understand the value of our culture and homeland.

The one who never meets the bad does not understand what is good.
(Circassian Proverb)

With best regards!
Kenugi J. UBYKH

In the Kingdom of BLINDS

As I have mentioned in former post, there are still some DELIBERATLY forgotten parts and people in this modern (!) and civilized(!) world. Fifty or more years before, it was really difficult to be awared of the developments and events in the other parts of the world. The only sources for news were some weekly (later daily) newspapers and governments' formal broadcasting equipments, radios (as huge as a fridge today) and black-white TVs. The radios and TVs were controlled by the governments of countries and aimed to publish the news of pre-decided, pre-commented and pre-censored by the serious looking sivil servants of the governments. So, people were forced to believe only these facts offered intentionally by others. Broadcasting was very expensive and only governments had this luxuary (but ofcourse by the help of citizens' taxes) for the future of their nations. But, newspapers and journalists' situation was entirely different from other rivals. It was not very expensive and journalists didn't use to care much about the money in those days. Most of them believed and lived themselves as volunteers to be a leader on the way to the freedom of informing others without the pressure of any power. In those days a good journalist had to be - first of all - a brave person who had to accept the risk of being killed, to be put into prison, or at least to be investigated by the sivil servants in black suits of governments. Most of their lives were poor, but people believed in and trusted them and their news. Their opportunities were very limited and sometimes you got the news after four or five days, but nearly all the things they pressed were true. The most terrible penalty for a good journalist was not to be able to sell enough his/her papers. And the thrustworthy and brave news were the only reason of the increasing of their selling ratio. The rich journalists were ignored by every reader and if a journalist had been a bit richer than avarage life standarts, he should have concealed it.

With the developments in technology, and decreased broadcasting costs, and TVs not being thought a luxuary anymore, the colured broadcasting equipments had a victory against radios and newspapers. The power of TVs ended with the magic of the modern world, the Internet. Most of the people prefer and say the Internet as the initial source of news. The decreasing ratings and the incomes of advertisements of TVs prove the reality of this theory. This was a big headache for the governments. It was a real challenge against the authority of governments. The Internet has no limits and borders except the limits and border of the user. Millions of computers (users' brains and thoughts) are connected to each other to learn more. It was the irresistible declaration of a new global kingdom. This kingdom is established voluntarily and governed by millioms of kings and queens. In this kingdom so much oppurtunities are offered that I am sure governments will have to create a ministry for Internet affairs of their people and country.

Today governments are jealous of this power and try to demolish this global kingdom. Some countries have already banned their citizens to connect the foreign web service hosts. They try to give an impression of “our eyes are on you”. So, the internet and users are not very brave as they were at first. The big server hosts have begun to declare their own kingdom's law and banned some of their users with the accusation of provocative or illegal affairs, sharings, .. etc. under the pressure of the risk of being banned by governments which means losing a lot of money and efforts. A non-written but known global internet laws are being constituted under these old-fashioned pressures. Considering the history of news publishment, we need brave journalist (or web admins) to provide us the real truths once more time. We, the global citiziens of this kingdom, deserves the news not being censored or pre-commented before. We deserve the bare and simple FACTS without the view of any political or governmental effects. I hope later they don't sell computers to the users with a licence and with the list which shows you the connectable web servers. Or they may even employ the internet user policemen whose main job is to be near you (physically) while on the Internet surfing.

Some important news on Circassia and Circassians unfortunately can't take place not only on TVs but also on the websites. I don't mention much about the newspapers, because lots of people already have ignored them. There are only a few Circassian websites who are trying to publish news. Even they are afraid of something to say the forbidden words (freedom, genocide, unity, independence). Not others but the (so-called) Circassian web admins ban their users to say, talk about or imply those forbidden words. They declare themselves as the voice of Circassians and they are. They are as silent as our ancestors bodies under the ground, with only a small differance of being alive. Our ancestors were really brave during, before and after the Great War on the battlegrounds. They were so brave that they were killed till only the children, women, and olds who could not defend themselves were alive. They did the best of whatever they could do. And if we are proud and famous and thought to be brave, this is not because of us but because of being their grandsons and daughters. We are called as the grandsons of Shamil. So, we are just enjoying the fame of our elders, not ours. Today the battleground is the Internet. Today the bullets are words. Today the war horses are mouses and keyboards. Today the leaders are web admins. We are fighting for not being disappeared forever. And in this fight the most important leaders we need are the brave news workers. They must always think of the importance of their duties which they have accepted willingly. It is clear that they will have lots of problems like the journalists mentioned above. They won't be rich and always have some economical problems. They will be ignored by the fortune owners. They will be questioned harmly by the Circassian dance and music fans. They will be accused of spoiling of the comfortable of Circassians life styles...

These are the normal and possible outcomes of demanding recovering a culture, a nation and raise to the level of their forgotten grandparents and their life philosophies, which must be accepted happly and without complaining as our elders didn't complain in the battlegrounds in more difficult situations. We are not ecpecting you to be as brave as Shamil, but at least try to be as brave as his enemies. We are not ecpecting you to be real grandsons of elders but at least pretend to be. If you are not brave enough to take the responsibility of being a leader, forget and leave it not to decrease the fame of our elders.

Unfortunately our communities have began to turn into a BLINDS' KINGDOM. We are not able to find leaders with two eyes, but this famous people deserves at least a leader with one eye to be a king who will tell and show us what is really happening.

In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King (Greek Proverb)

Sincerely
kenugi J. UBYKH