Maladies Aplenty, Remedies Too Scarce
Op-Ed
Who am I to judge the business of the Republic? Yet, I still have enough temerity to remind the public of the wrongs that persist in the way this nation is being ruled, and of the bottlenecks in which our development is stuck. The first and utmost question mark falls on where we see ourselves fifty years from now. In other words, do we have a general plan of development for the next half century? If somebody wants to respond positively, then I’m definitely from Missouri. Can we at least imagine what we might be like when our kids become middle-aged? Of course not! The nation is sprawling in the illusion that things will be OK, even if our efforts for survival are petty and misdirected.
What is the main subject of care in Georgia? I doubt the answer could be solid and consensual to this query, for the simple reason that we are not deliberating this paramount issue efficiently enough. What are the second- or third-rate subjects of care in Georgia? I don’t think we have the habit or ability to categorize the subjects of care by priority, and render them with due heed and skill.
Let us for now forget about the blueprint for the country’s long-term future and concentrate on what we are up to right now. Dwindling demographic potential, pointless education, rampant unemployment, a massive propensity to leave the country, increasing foreign investment in real estate, scary drug usage(and its feeble prevention), faltering family values, ineffectual economy, growing prices, unaffordable healthcare, crime up, lands occupied, geopolitical orientation unclear, national currency bouncing back and forth (augmenting extremes between rich and poor), irrelevant fuel prices, dictatorship of banks, deplorable architecture and construction, perilously polluted air, cars and vehicles ubiquitously sitting on our heads, deafening inner-city noise, streets full of animal droppings, unbridled infatuation with the catering and entertainment sectors, dilapidated urban infrastructure, moribund business environment, depressing adversarial propaganda, deconstructive relations between the current government and its political opposition, liberal attacks on national values, constitutional imperfection, violence flourishing, legislative flaws, executive weakness, judicial faults, youth at a loss and the senescent in deprivation – these are some of the drawbacks and vices that any nation in the world would own up to, but this is no excuse for us: Georgia is sailing in the exact same boat!
Some of those problems can wait, but some need to be addressed immediately, at least those that could be handled with more or less ease if we could mobilize our human efforts without much expenditure of financial resources. For instance, why can’t we stop the criminal constructions and ugly architectural attempts in urban spots like our capital city? This would take no financial sweat. Just stop it and be done with it! Why can’t we desist from singing, dancing and partying away the time and start working for real? This will not cost us anything either. Why can’t we get equipped with regular plastic bags and hygienic gloves to cope with our excremental deluge? This is cheap, too. Why can’t the Georgian males and females of the world unite in matrimonial bliss and take up demographic correctness as a model of behavior for a change? This can’t be so expensive, following the example of their Azeri fellow citizens. Why can’t we follow in the footstep of our ancestors and bring back our family values, thus avoiding the costly and tiring divorces that intensively work to the detriment of the nation. This might be done without spending even a dime. Why can’t the government and the opposition find ways to cooperate so that the final winner is the motherland? No cost there! How about the city noise? Let us just keep quiet: that’s all it takes, and it could be done without a nickel in the pocket. The fairness of judiciary, the handiness of the executive branch and the wisdom of legislators could also come without much to spend. The only currency we’ll need to spend here human will. Do we lack that, too? We may be a little sick as a society and our maladies might be numerous, but remedies will have to be invented and produced as you can’t find them in nature.
Nugzar B. Ruhadze