The face of the (former) enemy

When I was a kid, everyone was afraid of the Soviets.  They were the Evil Empire, the Red Menace.  I can remember people at church, as they were sitting in the social hall sipping their coffee, talking about how horrible the Soviet people were, how they lived simply to kill us all and take over our country.  Now that I am living in Kyrgyzstan, I reside in what was the old Soviet Union.  Many of my friends, neighbors, and co-workers are former Soviets, the old Red Menace.  I am living among these people who I was told, back in the day, would slit my throat as I slept in my bed if they had even half a chance.

Well, I have met the former Red Menace in person and they are surprisingly kind and gracious.  Let me introduce you to Myrza, my co-worker, who is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

Myrza, in our office kitchen, making us coffee as he does each and every morning.

Myrza served in the Soviet Army in the 1980s as a military chemist.  His job was to go around East Germany and train Soviet troops on how to survive the inevitable nuclear attack they thought would be launched by...of all people...you and me.  Hmm, perhaps we were the "Blue Menace?"  After his time in the army, he was so highly thought of by the Soviet Apparatus that he was chosen to teach "Scientific Communism" to party leaders in his part of Kyrgyzstan.  When the USSR fell, he was excited, because he felt it would usher in a better era in Kyrgyzstan; as is usually the case with most people, Myrza was a father, a husband, a Kyrgz, a human being, an educator much more than he ever was a political ideologue.  He went to Minnesota for his graduate studies and has worked tirelessly the past two decades to improve education in the region.  He has even served the U.S. government working for USAID in Afghanistan for several years.  Since I have arrived in Bishkek, Myrza has gone out of his way to show me hospitality and kindness and is no more menacing than one's kindly uncle.

So far, I have managed to evade the sinister influence of the Red Menace.  I laugh every time I think about this term.  But then I don't.  In this election year, listen carefully.  Train your ears to hear the voices of candidates who use harsh terms to describe the "enemy."  Identify which candidates are condemning and attacking entire groups of people as an evil monolith.  Those stirring passions against groups of "enemies" are the people who are the greatest threat to our democracy; beware of those who attempt to gain political power by dehumanizing others.  The politicians who spread hate and advocate things like carpet bombing entire regions, these are the menace that should fill our hearts with fear.  And these spreaders of hate should be resisted with all our might.

Me, I am enjoying my time chatting with those who formed the old Evil Empire, the ancient Red Menace.  I wonder which group it is that those who feared the Red Menace in my childhood church are hating on now?