Not Driving

So. I'm a driver now. Wow. In our culture, driving is everything. I've certainly done a lot of it in the past year. As I'm sure many of you know, the economy sucks. It really sucks. And trying to get a job sucks even more. According to http://www.syracusegasprices.com/ (I have no idea how reputable they are and by no means endorse them) gas is hovering around $3.56/gal across the nation, and even higher in NY. That said, I'm effectively done driving. Up until now, as far as my family was concerned they were teaching me to drive; I used their car and their gas. That ain’t true anymore. Looking in my wallet, I have just over $3.75, enough to cover a gallon at most local stations. I guess I'll be able to fill the lawnmower at least. New freedoms don't always come with new abilities. As anyone who once asked an elementary teacher to go to the bathroom will understand, I finally may drive, but I also no longer can. Some of you will get picky about how technically I can drive there are just details like money in my way. . . Give it a rest. You get my point.

Why Russia

Interestingly, when I set out to write this I was expecting to write about how I was interested in Russian culture because of my fascination with “Soviet Russia” stereotypes. Looks like I proved myself wrong.

A lot of people have been asking me this lately. As I'm sure many of you know (hey, I could use that as like my signature line, I use it a lot) I'll be spending next semester at the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod. I have no background at all in Russian, and I realize that it isn't the most marketable language skill in today's job market. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a lot of people ask me why I'm going to Russia, and I'm not. What does surprise me is how hard it is to answer.

My instinct always tells me to just say “Why not?” and to an extent this is true. My decision to pick Russia was largely on a whim. When I first began to research NSLI-Y I was interested in studying Chinese. Once I took a month of 中文 classes at MMLA (just google it) I realized that as fascinating as the language is, I wasn't that interested in the culture. Spending a summer or longer immersed in a culture I wasn't interested in just seemed foolish, so I looked at the other programs offered. I knew more about Russia than the other countries, so I applied, and got in. Bang. End of story. That's all folks.

Every now and then, some incessantly annoying individual (more often than not a relative) asks for a “better answer.” After a little thought, I always turn to the same responses: “I love how the language sounds,” or maybe “I'm interested in nuclear physics, the Soviet Union made great advances in the field,” and sometimes even just “the architecture is really cool” or “I love the cold weather.” This isn't the whole truth though. What really has driven me to love Russia is my own ignorance

Anecdote time! I first started to toy around with computer programming in 7^th grade. My first language was the 83+ version of TI-BASIC. I had an 84+ Silver Edition, and I spent more time on it than I did on my actual computer. Almost everything I knew then about programming I learned either through guess and check or from my friend Wilhelm, who I later learned had simply leeched the knowledge off his dad. One of the first programs he threw together was a quiz on Russian culture, just meant to demonstrate basic logic algorithms. I tried it, I failed miserably. I knew nothing about Russia's geography, culture, language, or history; to be honest I still know little. I've never taken kindly to failure, so I set out to learn more. About a month ago, a friend asked me if the KGB still was in operation. Even more astonishing than the fact that he didn't know was the fact that I couldn't answer. Americans, myself included, are ignorant. I'm ashamed of it, and the fact that my ignorance about Russia has been rubbed into my face has been what sparked my interest to learn more. Maybe it could have been Turkey, or Brazil, but as my life played out I've been stuck with an interest in Russia.

Rights and Responsibility

So, I'm sure most of you know by now that NY just passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. There has been a lot of talk lately about how this is a "great step forward for civil rights" and the biggest social reform since the civil-rights era. While I certainly agree that this is a huge step in the right direction, it does raise some interesting questions about the fundamental decisions every American faces.

Ever since the first ten amendments were ratified, our rights have been the cornerstone of American pride and culture. Voting, federal education loans, taxation by representation, and countless other givens in our culture were all but unheard-of just a few hundred years ago. Even today many immigrants arrive in our country with nothing to safeguard their future except for the promise of heightened rights and freedoms. The expansion of these freedoms was the fundamental argument in favor of the so-called “Marriage Equality” bill that just passed through the State Senate.

What far too many people overlook is that these rights come at a price. Every man and woman of our nation, if not the entire world, has a certain degree of responsibility to their community. What causes a dilemma is when responsibilities seem to infringe on rights. If it is your responsibility to serve the country in times of war, does this violate your right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” There is no law mandating voting; is it really a great right, or is it a responsibility to be undertaken even if inconvenient? For decades, laws have been evolving to defend the rights of citizens, but any attempt to define responsibility by law has been seen as an “obstruction of human rights.”

Ultimately, I hold responsibility as a greater power than rights. This is my decision: what must be done should outweigh what may be done. Many disagree with me, as is, ironically, their right. Perhaps some of you have found a way to balance the two, but I see service to others as more important than freedom to serve yourself. And to those of you who hold rights as more important, just remember those of us who value our responsibility are the ones who guarantee you those rights.