I recently returned home from a trip to Europe in which I spent several days in Prague touring the city.
I took several tours seeing everything from “Old Town” to castles and cathedrals. Prague has a very rich history that dates back as much as 2000 years ago. Most of the modern day Prague still dates 1500 years or more.
What I found most interesting was the history regarding the last 60-80 years, which includes the World War, the Jewish “Final Solution” and communism in general. It’s no secret there that the people under communist rule are extremely happy to be in a free and democratic society again. The 40 years of communist rule was a literal living nightmare for those people. There are still those from the communist party who long for the old days, but by a far majority the Czech people are more than happy to be free again.
One of our guides was a well educated girl named Hanna. I’m guessing she is about 28-30 years old. In order for her to get the job of tour guide she had to learn volumes of history, including dates, names, and events. She had been a guide for nearly 5 years and was a wealth of information. At nearly every site she described what happened in a particular building or castle before, during, and after the war, and how the building was used during communist rule. It was quite an education for me as to how devastating communism can be to a country. She remarked several times how communism makes people lazy, helpless, uncaring, unkind, and in all a very unhappy people. She described how people were “assigned” jobs and it became your life whether you liked it or not. It was rare to choose a profession. She went on to talk about construction during communist rule and what shoddy work was done. She said that the maintenance and care for the entire country dwindled considerably and things fell apart and repairs were rarely done properly. Even today the buildings that were built during the communist era are falling apart and the buildings built 1000 years ago are still standing. Pride in the country barely existed. You were indoctrinated into communist life as a child and relied solely upon the state for your existence. There was no motivation to be the best at anything. Why? Because there was no reward for being the best at anything. All you did was spend your life working and being spoon fed by the government. You could not be fired so being and uncaring employee was typical and normal. Even your boss had little motivation to do anything but the minimum.
It’s hard for me to convey the feeling Hanna gave me as she spoke with such passion about democracy and freedom. How the country has pride again. Building and expansion is happening again. Technology and growth has been expanding rapidly. How devastating 40 years of communism took the life-blood out of the people. She admits that there are some older people who are suffering financially. These are they who lived their life under communism and was expecting the government to continue to provide for them in their older years. Some are bitter, but most are willing to sacrifice for the generations to come who will be able to live under capitalism and freedom. They love being Czech’s and love being free.
I explained what was happening here in America, particularly with health-care, and although she had heard most of it, she was still taken aback again that capitalism and free markets were even being questioned in of all places America. That our country has been the symbol of freedom and democracy in the world and that everyone wants to be like America. They long for capitalism, they long to be as far away from government rule as possible, yet we are being drawn into just such a system. It’s hard for a Czech to understand why we don’t fight and stand up against the government while we have the freedom to do so, because the day will come that if we don’t, then it may be unlawful to have such a protest, if we are not proactive, and all will be lost.
Hanna said, that she hopes that America will not stand for socialism and certainly not communism because it will in a sense affect the entire world. And the Czechs are one people who do not want to go back
Why can’t we as a people, if our government won’t, see the results worldwide of the devastating effects of socialism and communism and do all in our power to run the other way? Maybe it’s time to stand up and fight while we still have a chance! To see what can happen to an entire country and an entire people was certainly more eye-opening than I’d ever have expected it to be. I thought I understood, maybe I still don’t get it all, but I’m more enlightened and educated then I have ever been before. Where our country is heading and where are politicians are trying to lead us is not a place that I want to go. It makes me wonder if the politicians are just stupid or if they really do want that much power and control over us. If it’s the latter then heaven help us! If it’s the former than we have some really ignorant leaders and we need to replace them, and fast.
Everyone should talk to someone who’s been through communism and socialism….I think we’d all wake up after that discussion and maybe actually do something about it, I for one cannot sit idly any more.
Its only out of our ignorance that we could eventually lose our freedoms.
