In 1931, when the late American historian Carl Becker published ‘Modern History,’ one of his most famous books, the contours of Sakartvelo were not very clearly cut on his world map, because back then, we were simply one of those obscurity-ridden soviet republics. I am not surprised Georgia’s historical identity was hardly noticeable to the scholars of the time; otherwise, the expert’s meticulously sharp eye shouldn’t have missed mentioning the country, which had historically been in disparate relationships with ancient giants like the Hellenic and Roman republics, and which ruled over the Caucasus in the medieval epoch as one of the most prominent political and military powers. But no – Carl Becker described human history in granular details, yet failed to mention Georgia even once in his popular opus. Incidentally, Armenia is figured in the book’s index, a fact which doesn’t instigate any jealousy; merely stimulating the thought that there was something wrong with the author’s professional attitude.
There are myriad reasons to feel bad about the lack of mention of Georgia in the various text and reference books that appear in international markets. Things have definitely improved in the last score of years, but not enough to pay due homage to this nation which has every right to be proud of its antiquity and its exceptionally old history of Christianity. Georgia is an organic part of Modern History too, which, according to Becker, is the history of our times and of our civilization.
So much for complaining about others, who either forget to mention us in their works or choose not to do so. Sakartvelo’s popularity in the world is in our own hands alone, and it will not happen unless we learn how to network our national talent and energy to get it out to the billions of hearts and minds around the globe. Granted, Becker could not find room in his a 900-page book about Georgia, and nobody will criticize him for that. Nobody, except us, has even noticed the frustrating omission in the almost hundred years it has been sitting on library and bookstore shelves. As a matter of fact, every piece of grievance should go to us, the citizens of this country. The world will remain nonchalant to our history, culture and good works if we the people stay mum and dumb. We need to speak out, and speak loud, so that the rest of the world is able to every so often think about us in an adequate fashion, a fashion followed by a desire to cooperate with Georgia more fruitfully and extensively.
Wide and organic recognition by the world’s community means a lot to us. Not only the formal recognition by the United Nations, which we already enjoy, but recognition which is conducive to universal acceptance of our current and historical national value, translatable into extensive peaceful and mutually beneficial interaction with the entire world. For this, we have to deepen and widen the process of Georgia’s introduction to the world. And for this, we need to spend time, energy and money. Yet all of these variables are limited, and that is why we have to make preferences and determine priorities as soon as possible.
‘Staying mum’ sees us wasting our cultural and material potential on things that are less important than making the world aware of our existence. One example corroborating this thought might be a mathematical calculation of the time, energy and money spent by our people on street demonstrations, manifestations, pickets and protests in the last thirty years. Just imagine where Georgia could be now if the nation had spent that aggregate time, multiplied by the number of wasted workhours, on productive labor. Isn’t this a real catastrophe? We could have worked real magic on our wellbeing had we known better. How about we stop regretting the wasted past and come to our senses now? There is still time! The task is very simple: channel correctly and beneficially the time, energy and money that are still available in this land, and let the world know that we are here and ready to interact. Why is it so difficult to be rational?
Op-Ed by Nugzar B. Ruhadze
