Author : Tamuna Shengelia
Saturday morning pampers us with its unhurried pace. Beyond reading or watching the latest news from Ukraine or Israel, accompanied by coffee and a cigarette, there’s time to indulge in browsing Facebook memories. As I was reading a post from nine years ago, a voice suddenly blared from the TV screen: “Parliament, Georgia... Watch who you’re talking to! You’ve got problems!” warned a parliamentarian’s son to a German police officer.
Immediately, I pictured the Adjarian poet Amiran, smeared with blood, lamenting “Didn’t I write about it?”—and realized that arrogance had become our incurable disease. Once again, I couldn’t resist Facebook’s prompt “What’s on your mind?” and so I composed a post. But what compelled me to share my thoughts publicly? Today, I reflect on our Georgian arrogance.
If I understand things correctly, law and the rule of law form the very foundation on which the state stands. For the state to function, each individual must respect the established rules and legislation. However, Georgian arrogance—rebranded by the powers-that-be as “dignity”—rejects this notion entirely. This is why we are failing to keep our country in order.
Arrogance and selfishness cause distortion and wreak havoc across all spheres of our lives: traffic, the normal functioning of businesses and public institutions, urban development and upkeep, environmental cleanliness, fair competition, elections, courts, queuing culture, conscientiousness, the honest fulfillment of one’s duties, genuine faith, conscious obedience (not slavery), physical education and health, loyalty, friendship, integrity, and much more.
All of these elements are either absent or distorted in us precisely because we are oriented neither toward rules and laws—whether legal, administrative, social, or moral—nor toward the knowledge and defense of our own and others’ rights and obligations. Instead, we lean toward unconscious passions, instincts, and the quick gratification of momentary desires.
A self-willed and arrogant Georgian is happy and content, considers themselves free and feels respect for their own personality only when they dominate everything, manage to subordinate everyone and everything under their opinion, tastes, comfort, understanding, or whims. If they compromise or retreat, even in favor of the law, their dignity is trampled upon, and they finds it difficult to breathe freely.
The rule of law cannot stand on its own unless each of us exercises control over ourselves and our desires. Without the rule of law, there can be no order, democracy, development, prosperity, or power—all the things to which we collectively aspire.
Our individual consciousness as well as our daily actions and behaviors are directly related to the order in our country.
I believe that until we move away from herd mentality and collective thinking, until we look inwards to understand and acknowledge our shortcomings, and until we overcome our ego and engage in personal development and refinement, nothing will work out right. The prerequisite for progress is the recognition of our own vices—something unimaginable for an arrogant person who sees themselves as flawless and infallible. This is why Georgians often blame and curse others; they consistently look elsewhere for the causes of their own failures rather than within themselves.
I often hear people whining “What a bad society we live in!” as if this society is composed of Martians, and not you and me. If we want a better society, each of us must understand and recognize our weaknesses and strive to become better. If we do not change individually, no change in external factors, government, or authorities will bring us anything.
This is what’s on my mind on the 5 October 2024.
