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goldsnow, as I said, I realize that the situation is dire, and I understand arguments that the situation is ripe for a return to despotism, but I don't know if the situation is so hopeless that nothing good can come for generations. After all, many thought that Communism would never fall...By the way, my wife once had a Russian exchange student work for her, a fellow from Sevastapol. He was very intelligent, had good English, was charming, and loved to be in the States--- but he had no concept of work discipline. It became ludicrous, since she liked him and didn't want to get him in trouble, which might result in his expulsion from school for inadequate funds, and the revocation of his visa, and he seemed to not be intentionally taking advantage,but he was usually late (sometimes very, very), often failed to show up (and rarely had an excuse much better than oversleeping), and would get side- tracked much to easily when given a project. It reminded us of the old joke, "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us". Soviet life was very bad for the work ethic and enterprise.... |
