LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (06/21/98)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Protest Russian language requirement

Dear Editor:

This letter is being submitted to seek the support of concerned Ukrainians. Recently I came across an employment advertisement from the International Association of Chiefs of Police [http://career.careerpath.com]. The advertisement was for a law enforcement project coordinator to work out of Washington, with some travel to Ukraine. The position required a bachelor's degree, criminal justice background, strong verbal and written communications skills, experience in working and living in overseas environments, and fluency in Russian!

I took great umbrage in the requirement that Russian to be spoken in Ukraine. They did not even mention that Ukrainian was an acceptable language. I have been conducting law enforcement consulting to Ukraine for a number of years, and have traveled to Kyiv and Lviv. Although, a small number of what I consider communist loyalists continue to speak Russian, Ukrainian is the official language. One of the reasons my firm has been requested to return to Ukraine to conduct law enforcement training missions is because all my instructors speak Ukrainian. Russian is fine in Russia, just as Polish is fine in Poland, and therefore Ukrainian is the language of Ukraine - nothing less, nothing more. The language of the land is one of the important cementing factors of a nation.

I am proud of my Ukrainian heritage and as should be every Ukrainian American. That is why I am asking that you write, as I did, to the president of the IACP and voice your protest on their language requirement. Write to: Chief Bobby D. Moody, President, International Association, Chiefs of Police, 150 Haynes St., Marietta, GA 30060.

Walter Zalisko
Manalapan, N.J.

Our expertise needed in Ukraine

Dear Editor:

I see various emotions expressed in this special newspaper. Most of what I see reminds me of the words of my late father, "Get two Ukrainians together and you'll get three opinions." Those of you who knew him remember that he could express his views on our Ukrainian problems ...

My motivation for writing is to wake up people to what is going on and what we should do about it. Ukraine has been an independent nation for many years now and it is going nowhere. Why? For one thing, they don't know what it takes to run a country in a free-market economy under democratic political concepts. It is extremely difficult. Ignorance is not the only problem, but it is one problem we, as Ukrainian Americans, can do something about. And, if we do not do something about it, then I'll not be kind to the next Ukrainian I meet who tells me what a great patriot he or she is.

In 1992 I suggested it may become necessary for us to send our own, from the United States (and Canada, too), to Ukraine to teach and show them how. Taking my own advice I took six weeks in 1995 and went to Lviv as a volunteer English teacher. I learned more than I taught.

First, I saw the fantastically beautiful country to which I trace my roots. I saw a country rich in something other peoples spill blood for: perfect farm land. Second, I met people with spirit and the desire to see their country succeed in the modern world. However, most of those who wanted to see Ukraine succeed were the young people. What the older folks wanted was a better form of communism. And most of them were very lazy.

If we sit here in North America and do nothing but argue among ourselves about issues of little or no consequence, then we also are the guilty and lazy ones. Dig in your pockets and send our young people and any experts or teachers we can to Ukraine to educate and inspire them to succeed. While in Lviv, I met with cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky since I had been one of his altar boys in Cleveland. The cardinal was quite worried about Ukrainian young people having nobody to teach them how to make their country work. Except for fellow instructors, about the only other Ukrainian Americans I saw there were looking for business situations to exploit as a money-maker for themselves. For shame! And, shame on us if we let this continue! Ukraine is our country - to save or let go. It is up to each of you.

Steve Olek (Flying Cossack)
Riverside, Calif.

UOC sobornopravnist could be threatened

Dear Editor:

If you're wondering about the need for any further discussion on the pages of The Weekly about the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, then ask yourself how enormous was the censorship that Bound Brook was able to maintain, and how great was the resulting ignorance, that could lead to the following: three years after the fact, Yuriy Bazylevsky (March 29) and others still don't believe, as Victor Rud writes (March 8), that our bishops have voluntarily surrendered the independence of their Church? The Church's Constitution is clear: "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America ... is Autocephalous [independent] in all matters of its life and government, and its rights are equal with those of the other Autocephalous Orthodox Churches."

Repeatedly, before and during 1995, the faithful were assured that "nothing will change, everything will remain the same." They had been promised all along that the deal with Istanbul would not infringe upon the "unique identity, constitutional integrity or administrative independence" of the Church. This is from the April 2, 1995, circular of the Council of Bishops. And, according to the very Sobor resolution the Rev. John Nakonachny quotes in his March 22 commentary, we were "retaining our existing constitutional integrity" in joining with Constantinople.

So guess what? The revised Constitution recently sent to the parishes completely deletes the provision. Very clever. Don't do everything in one fell swoop ... wait a few years. And just wait until people find out what the revised Constitution now does to the individual parish assets, the very concept of a "sobornopravna" Church and a host of other issues.

Come to think of it, however, the public will never know unless you keep open this sole forum for debate and information.

Orysia Kulchytsky
Lemont, Ill.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typed (double-spaced) and signed; they must be originals, not photocopies.

The daytime phone number and address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.