My life unrolls before me
I am settled in this city already. I live near the market, I make my breakfast, tea. No coffee maker. I have to learn to make a good Turkish coffee. They still offer Nescafe. I had forgotten it existed. I also forgot about cigarettes and men and women smoke in important quantity.
A busy week. I have had meetings all week. 3 x at the UN, 1 x at the University, 1 x at the statistics office. Thursday, I made a tourist of myself at the Tbilisi Open Air Museum of Ethnography, travelling back in architectural before hitting the road to rural areas.
What was most important was the truth about the present which came to me from a beautiful rebellious girl who dares to stand in front of traditions and insults.
She left her parent’s home to live with her boyfriend, without being married. She dared to make love before marriage. For many, she is just good to be thrown away. Not a virgin, she is no longer a good girl, she is no longer good to marry. The conversation she has today with her father and mother, I had with mine 50 years ago. Again in my long journey, I promote our quiet revolution in Quebec. Yes, that’s what she wants, that’s what her country needs. I am troubled by this conversation that brings me half a century behind, while I am with a beautiful young modern woman.If this city has seen, during it’s history, the world pass by,
I feel this week to see a part of my life unroll before my eyes. I think of the time it takes to transform the mind of a society and the choices we make as we transform.
I always feel at home when I visit traditional houses. How many plans were there for people to build their house in order for rain or snow to flow down from the roof and to let light in but not the cold? There was much similarities in the architecture of the north when people buid their house with their own hands.
There is here, a cities to rebuild, old buildings and apartments to restore, there is a need to free oneself from the power of religion over the spirits. There is still to discover creativity in their development. Mountains, valleys, good land, water, 400 kinds of wine, recipes with spices from all around the world. Some say: “We have nothing”, that is because there is no oil, gas, diamonds. Others say “We have everything” Why then 20% of the population live below the poverty line? That there is no middle ?
My question to you is : How in such a condition, where no one starves, where everyone has a roof, can a country build a middle class? Or, why do you think this country has difficulty building a middle class? That is where this country needs changes.
