 Foreigners are surprised when a Ukrainian newscaster tells viewers at the end of his program: "Respect yourself, you deserve it." Based on their own life experience, foreigners may think self-esteem is innate and therefore Ukrainians do not need to be daily reminded that they should respect themselves.
However, such a phrase is quite useful to Ukrainians. For our inferiority complex, which makes us feel second-rate, petty and unimportant, is programmed and has penetrated our outlooks and minds so deeply that almost every individual Ukrainian has this ugly, shameful trait.
Average Ukrainian citizens have to suppress their indecisiveness before attracting attention.
Foreigners often notice this characteristic behavior at customs. Ukrainians act humbly and show fearful respect towards uniformed strangers simply performing their professional duties. They act as if they conceal something or are guilty and so want to appear better and more modest than they are.
A foreign friend once asked me why I shunned customs officers. He did not know I had been taught since childhood I was indebted to my motherland and that I was a mere screw in the gigantic machine of the Soviet state, and that only top officials were entitled to drive those screws in any way they wanted.
Foreigners also become bemused when Ukrainian journalists or officials ask them for advice on how to act in this or that situation. Once my friend complained to me that a foreign doctor who he asked for advice replied that he himself had come to Ukraine to study the experience of Ukrainian colleagues.
Unfortunately, there are still many people in Ukraine that think foreign products are better, more advanced and more perfect. They are not guilty, however, for they could not compare things when living behind the Iron Curtain. The opening of the Soviet borders blinded many Ukrainians with bright labels, neon signs and exquisite designs. The younger generation, especially pop stars, tried to derive advantages from their inferior fondness for foreign things. They went abroad and often performed in public transport or at bus stops but returned home and achieved nationwide fame, stunning all with their superficial European chic.
This makes foreigners believe the inferiority complex is innate in Ukrainians, which is, in fact, not true because people are born with no complexes, their behavior later being sculpted by life circumstances, education and environment. No doubt, if this environment is poor and squalid, as it is in India's caste society, it will produce certain stereotypes. It provides the basis for some of our traits: we, for example, never argue with directors but do what we think is right or appropriate. This trait is mirrored in the Russian simile, "as stubborn as Ukrainians." However, doing what one believes should be done contributed to the reputation of Ukrainians who are now good business people.
This trait somehow overshadows and muffles our lasting, aggressive and tragic struggle for dignity. Oppressed, Ukrainians always revolted, and there are many pages in our history showing how valorously we fought for centuries to defend ourselves.
Not only were "obstinate Ukrainians" oppressed and pressured but also they were also encouraged to obey government and comply with unnatural commands they were reluctant to follow. The local elite was offered privileges and gifts in exchange for loyalty. All governments ruling Ukraine did such things: Austro-Hungary, Russia, and Poland. The country's leaders were given titles, lands and other valuables.
Our foreign rulers also tried to assimilate Ukrainians by forcing them to adopt Catholicism and materially urging them to speak other languages. We were not allowed to study, sing and write in Ukrainian but still sang our songs without words.
Our history was also scrupulously censored; periods and outstanding personalities that could have inspired the nation and determined its course being deliberately removed. They even censored research papers on the Trypillya culture, the most ancient culture in our country. That must have been done to prevent Ukrainians from looking to their roots, as other Europeans do, to prove they are older than their "elder Russian brothers."
Russians also loved demonizing Ukraine's national heroes and sometimes exterminated them physically. The names of Mazepa, Petlyara, Makhno and Bendera were not uttered without the prefix "bandit." These names were used to frighten and intimidate people. Calling someone a follower of Petlyura or Bendera meant that this person would be jailed. Even during this year's election, there were no people with such surnames and very few Mazepas, even though he lived in the 18th century. He is still scorned as "the traitor of Tsar Peter, the Great" by leaders of Russia's Orthodox Church.
Sometimes government ignored national priorities if a Ukrainian made some invention. Such was the case with an apple variety cultivated by Symyrenko.
Over the years of independence, Ukrainians have been gradually overcoming their inferiority complex. They revived the names of their prominent personalities. I remember being stunned to learn about the famous Ukrainian ballet master Serge Lyfar, performing in Paris's Grande Opera, or about constructors of space devices, or that constructor Glushko was among those who developed and built the Katyusha multiple rocket launcher.
It is too early to claim we remember all our names. Many pages and names of our history were torn off, deleted or misinterpreted. We still need much time and effort to re-establish Ukraine as a historical nation.
Foreign researchers helped us see we are intelligent, educated and industrious. That is, no doubt, a great result. At the same time, when being compared with Americans and Europeans, Ukrainians see their actual imperfections.
Another factor that contributed to our re-evaluation of who we are is the comparison of our technologies and appliances with those produced in Europe and Asia. We have already recovered from the first shock and surprise from the lustrous design of those devices, and that comparison has ruined the myth of foreign superiority, although we thought only our military equipment was equal to theirs. We now often see signs in shops declaring that a product is produced in Ukraine and in accordance with the EU standards.
However, the greatest events that radically influenced us were the Independence Square demonstrations of 2004, generally referred to as the Orange Revolution. In fact, it was not a revolution at all. This became obvious when its leaders gained power and betrayed their slogans.
Nevertheless, it was the seminal event in the nation's revival. It must have been the greatest revolution since the Liberating War of 1648-1654, led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky. Back then, the war made many men become Cossacks. The political elite also betrayed their people, in Istanbul, Warsaw, Moscow and Sweden, but the nation, which Europe called the Cossack nation, was formed and existed for centuries afterwards.
It is clear that the 2004 events will be inspiring Ukrainians for decades. The Maidan spirit and values will be passed on from one generation to another. Our posterity will no longer be offspring of the exterminated, oppressed generation but of the generation of free, proud and self-respecting parents. They will not berate themselves, complain and ask others for advice.
To progress to that time, we must often tell Ukrainians: "Respect yourself, you deserve it."
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