From: Lubosh <Lubosh.Hanuska@anu.edu.au>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Quo Vadis ? #8
Date: 9 Nov 1992 04:24:47 GMT
Organization: ANU Canberra
Distribution: world
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X-XXDate: Mon, 9 Nov 92 23:23:49 GMT

What's the difference ?

Whenever I travelled outside of the Eastern Europe, I was asked how is it
in the Communist countries, and when I came back everybody asked me
what's it like in the West. Of course there were differences, and there
still are (but they are getting smaller and smaller)... , but my basic
answer always would be "I didn't see all that big difference." Let's just
pick a few "little" things, and make some "judgements". When I worked as
an interpreter in Czecho-Slovakia, I was once called for a computer
equipment installation carried on by Olivetti in a factory in the
Northern Slovakia. It was a leasant trip to the mountains, a very
beautiful area, however about a half way there (it was about 200 km from
my home) I realized I forgot to take my toothbrush & paste (you know how
these little thoughts browse through your mind when driving alone...). I
said to myself "Never mind, I'll buy one there, and I wouldn't even dream
about it being a problem... But when I came to that little town and
walked into the shop I was told that "they have toothbrushes, but they
ran out of the toothpaste". I almost couldn't believe it, but it was
true. The same in the next shop, another and another one... Of course it
was caused by some accidental problem in the distribution from the
central storage to that region. Sometimes these problems were larger -
like when a match production workshop burned out in 1988 (or early 1989
?)... So I had to be without a toothpaste for an entire week !!! Of
course this wouldn't happen in any of the countries in Western Europe, so
- there is THE DIFFERENCE #1. Well, another thing : my brother was
studying at the University of Forestry in Zvolen. He had a lot of friends
there from Moravia a - a region very much keeping their folk traditions,
and they used to invite some friends for their annual festival in
Straznice (do some exercise to find out if you really have a good World
Atlas :-). Once he told me to come with them too. There was a group of
about twenty of us - when we jumped out of the bus, they took us to their
families, we had all the best food and great wine (that area is famous
with very good wine) for three days, incredible feasts with a lot of
dancing and all sorts of fun. There never was any question about when we
are going to invite them - we didn't have any festival like that anyway,
we didn't pay a cent for anything, and I just felt how happy they are to
have us there (I didn't know anybody there before we came to the place).
I am not sure if somethng like that would happen in any of the Western
European countries, but it probably would be very rare (or very
expensive). So there is THE DIFFERENCE #2. There also were sme
disappointing experiences I had when travelling in the Western Europe. I
was once trying to catch the ferry from Kiel in Germany to Langeland (a
nice little Danish island where everything is twice as expensive as you'd
expect), and I missed it (this wasn't on my way from Rome, but a few
years later). It was late in the afternoon, and the next boat was
departing in the morning. There was nothing else to do but wait until the
morning. The weather was quite nice, but nights are cold out there, so I
thought after I had a look through the city that I.d just sleep over on
the beach (I had a good survival "up to 5 below zero" sleeping bag), so
there shouldn't have been a problem. But there was no suitable beach...,
and it looked like raining (it often looks like that on the Baltic Sea).
After all I came back to St Nikolaus Kirche (if I remember the name
correctly) - a sort of nice Cathedral which has a very different modern
tower (the original one was destroyed by American bombs during WWII).
There was quite a big presbytery, and encouraged by great thoughts on the
notice board at the entrance to the church I decided to have a little
talk to the priest. There were two doorbells - "Parish Priest", and
"Chaplain". Somehow I had a feeling that it might be easier to talk to
the chaplain. I rang the bell, and a tall skinny scholar came out, with a
very strict look. He was quite keen to ask me what can he do for me (but
he was probably decided not to really mean it). I said, well, this is the
story, and I wouldn't mind to place my little mat somewhere here in the
corridor, not to bother you with anything, and just keep dry overnight. I
was quite surprised when he made it very clear that I can't even come in.
I should say he was very polite, and I did thank him very much (besides I
still remember him in my prayers). Fortunately enough this church has a
quite large ground with beautiful lawns, and I had to concluded that the
land is a property of the Catholic Church, and as a member of the Church
I am entitled to use my share for the night. I put up my little tent in
there right next to the church wall, and had a great sleep before I left
early in the morning (just interrupted a few times by an overnight
storm). Anyway, this is NO DIFFERENCE - it can happen anywhere, because
everywhere you find people who are very nice, and some who are less
nice... But in general I must say that many people in the West still find
it necessary to have a choice from at least twenty different types of
French cheese in their local supermarket, and don't care about what's the
name of their neighbours baby. In the Eastern Europe where the material
conditions were poorer people didn't spend much time shopping, but having
less they always gave more... I'll tell you about Hungary and Poland next
time (I know I promised you politics, but let's leave it for later...).

Yours in Christ,
Lubosh
+ !           "Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul."
(M.Gandhi)
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