Forgive us

The American Congress apologized to blacks. As they say, for everything, for everything. The event is super-historical. I hope that the American congressmen are not our Duma “congressmen”, and after one and a half hundred years they apologized not because Mr. Obama is standing at the entrance to the White House. However, that is not the point.

As soon as this news was torn from the teletype tapes, a heated discussion unfolded on our “echo” air: shouldn’t we apologize to someone for something? The question “is there anyone?” didn't even stand. They remembered the Baltic states, and the Czechs and the Hungarians, and Katyn, and the Holodomor, and then they dropped into the depths of centuries, because the history of the growth of Rus' is a long chain of various kinds of conquests. What are now subjects of the Federation were principalities, khanates and other foreign countries. We can say this: Moscow gradually annexed the remaining eight dozen territories. And you can repent before the Tatars, Novgorodians, Tuva, Mordovians and even the neighboring regions.

I'm not being sarcastic. All this is truly possible. Why not - now everyone apologizes to everyone. Australians before the aborigines, Catholics before Galileo, Polynesians here apologized for the missionary devoured by their cannibal ancestors 300 years ago. This is, of course, symbolic. This is terribly politically correct. But all this is some kind of rubbish. And I'll tell you why.

In my understanding, an apology, repentance is an action carried out by a person who committed a specific act in front of the real victims, the offended, the offended. I was rude to you, and I apologized to you. This is a real apology. But if I was rude to you, and in a hundred years my great-great-grandson will apologize to your great-great-grandson - that’s already nonsense. The simple formula is “the son is not responsible for his father”! Yes, my descendants can evaluate my actions, they can even condemn me. But they have nothing to apologize for!

No matter what we do, our descendants are not responsible for us. Whatever our ancestors did, we are not responsible for them. American congressmen did not oppress blacks on plantations, did not hang them in white robes, did not draw signs “for whites only.” Vice versa! Now, after all, even the word “Negro” itself has become a curse that it is also idiocy, because the Negro is a black man, this is not good and not bad, it is just a fact. American blacks live well, they live well, soon they will rule America itself. So why are these specific people on Capitol Hill apologizing, who did nothing wrong, but on the contrary, only did good?

I have nothing to apologize to the Balts for. I always treated them with sympathy, always visited them with pleasure and behaved culturally when visiting. I'm glad they have independence, I supported them when all this happened. And although my grandfather fought in those parts, after the war he also calmly left there and was not an occupier even according to their concepts. I have nothing to apologize to them for. My grandfather had nothing to repent of to them.

All these rotten apologies are false and vulgar, they are 90% dictated by the situation, fashion and God knows what else, but not by a feeling of real guilt, because a person who has not done anything cannot really feel guilty. If possible, you should apologize immediately, and if it’s impossible right away, then correct past mistakes not with empty pieces of paper, but with deeds. Gorbachev, no matter what you say about him and no matter how you treat him, was the person without whom there would have been no freedom in the Baltics, the Berlin Wall would not have fallen, and the Hungarians, Czechs, and Poles would not have gained independence from the Russians. It would still happen, but no one knows how soon. And thanks to Gorbachev, here it is. These are real things that are many thousands of times more necessary and useful than all the apologies combined.

Therefore, I think that Russia has nothing to apologize for. Another thing is that some events need to be given a normal assessment. Call the occupation of the Baltic states an occupation, do not hide documents on Katyn, but help the Poles in the investigation. Yes, we have so many of our own victims! Thousands of victims of Stalin's despotism are still alive and need help. There is no need to apologize to them - we need to help them. Help with everything: from political (and criminal) rehabilitation to assistance in obtaining medications and solving other everyday problems. This will be the case. Real business - instead of empty, even a hundred times correct, words.