LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (04/07/02)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

UNA should award major scholarships

Dear Editor:

Recently I received the annual UNA scholarship winners of The Weekly and was prompted to write this letter. As usual, it is wonderful to see our young UNA members in all their "academic" glory, arming their parents and grandparents with bragging material for their next foray into the "hromada."

Reading the article by Oksana Trytjak I was very impressed to find out that the UNA awarded over $23,000 in scholarships to its members for the 2001-2002 year. Reading on I noticed that Ms. Trytjak encouraged parents and grandparents with young students to "make sure they are members of the UNA so they too can qualify for an award."

Realistically speaking, are $100-$175 awards (the cost of two to three books) an actual enticement for parents, faced with the high cost of college, to buy UNA policies? Would it not be more beneficial to the UNA if they offered one or two highly competitive, prestigious and substantial ($7,500 minimum) scholarships?

These scholarships could be designed to not only reward one or two outstanding UNA members, but also as a very effective marketing tool to promote the UNA's financial services and philanthropy. Perhaps the scholarship recipients could be required to submit articles to the UNA's publications or act as ambassadors for the UNA during their award year.

I'm confident the fine people at the UNA could work out the details to make UNA scholarships beneficial to both students and the UNA.

Taras Ferencevych
Jersey City, N.J.

A reaction to letter re rock/pop series

Dear Editor:

The Very Rev. Dr. Ihor Monczak's letter to the editor (February 24) on Ukraine's wannabe Madonnas raises some broader issues of popular and religious culture and symbolism. However blasphemous the "pop icon's" exploitation of religious symbols may be (though "Madonna," incidentally, is her given name), at least it has resonance in a society that still recognizes their value. Its success is evidence of the continued vitality of Christian symbolism in American society.

This is less the case in Europe (where a 1990s survey revealed that the Olympic rings were more broadly recognized than the cross), and far less so in most of the former Soviet Union, where atheism's most effective weapon was ignorance (one is reminded of the anecdote about the New Russian who, buying a gold crucifix, mistakes Jesus on the Cross for an acrobat on a trapeze). Not even blasphemy - which is, after all a grudging acknowledgment of the divine - is possible where God is ignored, His symbols forgotten.

True, relying on a spiritually moribund West for cultural leadership may symptomize an ignorance, or neglect, of Ukraine's own resources - or insufficient creativity and cultural confidence to draw on them in an original contemporary idiom. As it happens, in one respect our spiritual tradition seems peculiarly well-suited to modern popular culture: its emphasis on image, evidenced by its architecture, icons and expressive church ritual. It is up to today's artist to find a credible, authentic connection between tradition and modernity - to recognize, as it were, both the signs of the times and timeless signs.

Andrew Sorokowski
Rockville, Md.

Ukraine may still choose third road

Dear Editor:

The 20th century Ukraine had suffered a multitude of tragic and ruinous events. Starting with World War I in 1914, Russian Revolution in 1917, loss of short-lived independence of Ukraine (1918-1920 ), the 70 years of communist rule in Ukraine (with loss of intelligentsia and peasantry, Kremlin-made terror famine in 1932-1933 which caused death of seven million people), the horrors of World War II, UPA heroic struggle, Chornobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, just to name a few.

It ended however with hopeful signs: fall of Nazism and peaceful dismantling of Communism, and glorious proclamation of independence of Ukraine on August 24, 1991.

We are entering the 21st century full of hope, but also anxiety. Will the democracy, civil society, economic well-being with a satisfactory living standard for Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainization of the government prevail as part of the Western European community? Or will Ukraine slowly drift to the East?

That brings us to today's political and economic climate, which has changed and is still changing dramatically, but in which Ukraine has to find its rightful place.

Today's political realism is such that the concept of independence (or sovereignty) and unilateralism is being replaced by multilateralist independence. In other words, independence in its true meaning does not exist any more, it belongs to history.

Ukraine as an autarchy, i.e., having an independent national policy economic self-sufficiency, cannot exist at the present time. This autarch, or rather the lack of it affects not only Ukraine, but actually all developed, supposedly self-sufficient nations, including the world's most powerful countries, who can no longer pretend to have genuine independence, because in the strict sense of the word "national independence" exists only with complete economic independence, (for example in 19th century America). Instead, economic interdependence is the reality in today's world. This interdependence affects not only the economy of each nation, but also its foreign policy, political trends, alliances, geopolitical planning, including military interventions, etc. So, by creating economic and political blocs or alliances, nations are trying to secure their economic and political well-being. The European Union is an example. Why is this happening? Because history teaches us that a poor economy in any given country leads to political instability, loss of democratic ideals, social unrest, emergence of radical or totalitarian parties (e.g., Germany after World War I).

That is why economic well-being in today's world supersedes in importance all ethnic, nationalistic, even political aspirations or sentiments in most European nations. This need for economic well-being and stability and, therefore, the need for interdependence is dramatically evident in the fact that many European nations gave up their centuries-old monetary units and accepted the euro as the common currency in order to simplify economic transactions and gain a more favorable economic climate. The EU nations plan to have rich member-countries share their wealth with poorer members in order to achieve not only economic stability, but also equality and a satisfactory standard of living for people of all its member-states. Certainly a noble and idealistic quest!

In order to have stable nationhood, Ukraine has to develop a healthy economy, which in turn makes it necessary for it to join a proper alliance. This brings us back to the EU and to Ukraine's past history. Our history gives us warning that the wrong alliance can have disastrous and detrimental consequences that are still evident today, i.e. the Treaty of Pereiaslav.

On the other hand, one could write a "fantastic history" (a new and popular literary genre in which one writes a historical scenario based on "what if..." about another alliance: what would Ukraine be like as a nation today, if our great Hetman Ivan Mazepa, who formed an alliance with Sweden's King Charles XII, had a majority of Ukrainian patriots rally to his cause and had a large faithful Kozak army with which he defeated Peter the Great's Russian army in the battle of Poltava in 1709?

Ukraine's decision to look to West or East in the future will be of historical significance and of paramount importance.

By joining the EU Ukraine will be able not only to have military security, but, "even more importantly, permit Ukraine to safeguard its cultural, linguistic and political autonomy in the interdependent political constellation in which EU now finds itself," as stated by well-known economist Dr. Bohdan Hawrylyshyn in his article in The Ukrainian Weekly on February 3.

By joining the Russian-Belarus alliance, however, Ukraine not only will loose again its economic and political autonomy, but also the above-mentioned linguistic and cultural identity.

Because there is strong resistance to join any economic or political alliance, Ukraine might choose the third road. Through skillful economic and political maneuvering, Ukraine might achieve a satisfactory economy on its own and remain neutral for the time being.

G. Myroslaw Burbelo, M.D.
Westerly, R.I.

An expression of gratitude to MD

Dear Editor:

Over the past two years I have been seen by several internists and specialists. Even with their seemingly impressive credentials, they failed to successfully diagnose my illness. I was given an array of medicines, told to go home and take it easy, but the pain and discomfort that I was experiencing steadily increased. On September 11 of last year I finally turned to Dr. Lubomyr Woroch.

I met Dr. Woroch some 20 years ago - he literally saved my mother's life. I hadn't turned to him earlier because I never thought that I needed the services of a surgeon and I had also moved out of state. Once I placed myself under Dr. Woroch's care, I knew that I was in the best of hands and that I was going to get better and quickly.

Within a few weeks of my first appointment, even though the results of a battery of tests came back negative. Dr. Woroch continued to pursue the cause of the pain I was experiencing. He could have given up and told me it was just my nerves (an answer that comes all too easily to most doctors when it comes to female patients, and one that I heard all too often these past two years). Due to his thoroughness and determination, however, in early January of this year, Dr. Woroch finally confirmed the cause of my pain and advised surgery to correct the problem.

Dr. Woroch's warmth, compassion and skill as a surgeon are truly remarkable. With his trademark sense of humor, he has an uncanny ability to set you at ease. He prepared me for surgery by carefully detailing the procedure and what I could expect. He answered my hundredth question with the same patience and warmth as the first. His reassuring manner made all my years and anxiety just vanish. I had absolutely no trepidation in going through with the surgery.

Dr. Woroch is very tough when it comes to protecting his patients and expecting them to receive the best of care. This point is well understood by his surgical team and the rest of the hospital staff. They know he's the best, and so are they. This is evident by how closely and smoothly they work together and the respect he garners from them. The care and support I received at the ParkCare Pavilion of St. John's Hospital in Yonkers, N.Y. was truly exceptional. The nurses, aides and technicians were very professional and extremely attentive - even more so when they realized that I was one of Dr. Woroch's patients.

Throughout these past few months, Dr. Woroch has had only one interest in mind and that was to ensure that I received the best medical care possible. I wanted to share my appreciation for Dr. Woroch with the Ukrainian American community.

I am confident that St. John's Hospital is very proud to have such a truly dedicated physician on staff - a man who was born to be a doctor.

Eugenia M. Sudylo
Bethel, Conn.

| Home Page |