A Beautiful Oasis

                A Beautiful Oasis

                by Alexandr Piatkov


On a scorching summer day, the hand of providence may guide a weary traveler

through the barren steppe to a beautiful oasis. This sanctuary owes its existence

to some tiny stream, a small lake, or a marshland, teeming with all manner of

singing, chirping, and buzzing fauna, and surrounded by flora that bears every

color of the Creator’s palette.


If we mentally enlarge the scale of this observed landscape, we can discern human

beings among the bustling wildlife. Broadening our view even further, we can

envision the entire human population—an ethnos. If an ethnos sustains itself on

the bounties of its encompassing landscape, it is said to live in symbiosis with

this ecosystem. Within a healthy ecosystem, healthy populations of living

organisms—including humans—reproduce, maintaining a natural balance in their

numbers.


But what becomes of individuals uprooted from their ecosystem and confined to

concrete cages, even if those cages are well-appointed with flushing toilets and

central heating?


No one would question the necessity of preserving the described oasis. Yet,

humanity cannot live by the old aggressive doctrine that nature must bend

entirely to human will. The human population is also merely a part of some larger

ecosystem. When it detaches itself from that ecosystem and begins to oppose it,

it simply degenerates.


The domestic auto industry has long produced rugged, bare-bones off-roaders and

utility vans tailored specifically for our harsh local conditions, just as stud

farms once bred thoroughbred horses for local needs. But where does one find a

"thoroughbred" human being, as an element of a population and an ethnos, who

possesses the skills to survive in this specific ecosystem—a bearer of healthy

motivations, capable of reproduction and strenuous labor?


The dead end of the liberal, or "Western," model is the dead end of an urbanized

civilization that has exhausted its healthy, reproductive human resources. Nature

abhors a vacuum, so these human resources are replaced by adjacent ethnic groups,

but this ultimately leads to cultural dilution and degeneration.


People—not only in Russia—are becoming aware of this problem, yet few dare to

return to their roots. Indeed, a literal return is impossible: lifestyle

patterns, behavioral models, and survival skills have been lost over several

generations. However, a healthy rural population still endures here and there. If

we are to speak of a national revival, our hopes must lie not in high

technologies, but precisely in this healthy rural population. We should not be

supporting radical nationalist marches in the cities, but rather a mass movement

back to the countryside for permanent residence. This applies to Russians,

Tatars, Bashkirs, Ukrainians, and any other people, if they and the greater

community of nations wish to survive.


Living closer to nature is hindered by the ubiquitous, impassable mud—one of

Russia’s two legendary curses (alongside bad roads). Local roads are the very

tool that can help people break free from the influence of adverse global trends.

We should not be trying to conquer the vast expanses of the universe. Instead, we

must build—not cosmopolitan superhighways, but first and foremost, patriotic,

paved local roads connecting our rural districts. Computers can be bought from

China, but you cannot import roads from abroad!


The legacy left by the decades of Soviet rule is not only a disfigured country

and a people severed from their roots, but also an obsession with shock

industrialization for the sake of some elusive "higher goals"—a lingering dream

of yet another breakthrough.


I do not know the exact words Deng Xiaoping used to phrase his testament, but we

can recall a fitting piece of folk wisdom: "Make haste slowly." We must preserve

harmony and refrain from destroying the oasis of Divine Design. For a wise

shepherd, the ultimate goal is always his flock!



© Copyright: Александр Пятков, 2013

Свидетельство о публикации №213050201417