Superstitions
by Lori Lenz
So there are a few proverbs that I’ve learned since I’ve been here in the Ukraine:
First – There’s something about that you can’t chase 2 rabbits. (Sort of a you can’t have your cake and eat it too reference….). Thus the advertisement…which I completely didn’t understand until someone explained it to me.
Second – Never put a mirror by your front door. (Because your money will come in the front door, and reflect back out)
Another – Girls can’t sit on the ground, as it will freeze their ovaries. I have no idea where this came from.
But this one really bothered me.
Never say nice things to a baby. As children need to earn praise.
I think this may explain a lot of what I have experienced here in this country. There is a harshness about the people here that I’ve never experienced before. In general, I’m not sure, everyone just seems a little sad.
I know some of it is simply their dialect – the harshness of the language and the preferred volume of speech just makes everyone sound angry.
But
There’s something about the kids here. In just 3 days, they have blossomed into happy, loud, typical teens. They seem to be desperate for attention and a little unconditional love to keep them going. I know I’m drilling these stats in, but they have a 10% suicide rate among orphaned teens. 60% prostitution rate for girls. 70% crime rate for boys.
Something is very wrong. But maybe it goes back to being as simple as being told as an infant that you were worthless or ugly or sub-par. I’d like to try an experiment and see if simply encouraging children changes things. If we start building these kids up from the start, if people gave these kids encouragement from the moment they are born and let them know just how amazing and precious they are…
It’s probably a bit idealistic, but maybe, just maybe that can be a little teeny amazing change in the world.
