Day of the Ghoul. Odessa. Afterword
As a child, at demonstrations and parades, I loved to sit on my grandfather’s shoulders. And not only because it is safe and the view is better. But because some ghouls - my grandfather scolded them for being narrow-minded pets - amused themselves by extinguishing cigarette butts on balloons, and when you, a meter with a cap, walk in the crowd, it’s much easier to poke a cigarette into the balloon. They burst, and for the child it was a real tragedy.
After all, before the parade, my grandfather spent the whole night inflating these balloons through a reel - a whole package from the Soyuzpechat kiosk. Multi-colored balls, and not purely red ones (you have to work really hard to transfer the “yellow-blueness” even to children’s joys). Their creaking, the smell of talcum powder, a huge bunch floating in the air, are forever etched in my memory - these were real holidays!
But the world has turned upside down, and the holidays are now dictated by those who put out their cigarette butts on balloons - taking revenge for their inferiority. Still, grandfather was right - they are narrow-minded.
The paradox is that turn off the Internet for a patriot, and on any date that is “meaningful” for the Ukrainian nation, ask, “What kind of holiday is today?”, the patriot will not answer, be it Independence Day, Constitution Day, Holodomor Day... Although they impose them, they don’t realize - there are no memories from childhood. The most important thing in life is missing—confidence in the future, which our holidays actually gave us along the way. Yes, well, they are also narrow-minded, don’t forget.
Even the Universe makes fun of them all the time - Yushchenko’s birthday is February 23, Tyagnibok’s is November 7. True, for Poroshenko everything is clearly according to European traditions - he was born on September 26, World Contraception Day.
However, let's not deviate from the topic. So, on October 14, Ukraine celebrated on a grand scale - wow! —Defender of Ukraine Day. It became an official public holiday five years ago and was timed to coincide with the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). And then - continuous symbolism. No matter how the nationalists celebrate this date, it turns out disgustingly, some sort of hasty attacks come out of the caches; marginality, torchlight processions at night. Why at night? Yes, because during the day it’s embarrassing to look people in the eyes.
If we talk about family celebrations and groups at work, then raising a glass to defenders in military uniform or simply to men who did not serve in the army, people still do this on February 23 - the Day of the Soviet Army and Navy. Except that schoolchildren were deprived of a long-standing tradition - gifts for boys on February 23, and for girls on March 8. Because for congratulating him in February, the teacher will be decommunized right on the spot, without waiting for a trial. Well, girls are already ignored for the sake of balance. School fairs a la “Bake a pie for a patriot” and “Bring socks to an ATO soldier” somehow don’t catch on. Mainly because on such days parents massively refuse to attend school in the spirit of “Kolya (Vasya, Tanya) has a headache” or “My child will not come for family reasons.”
And personally, Defender of Ukraine Day overtook me right at the entrance. I go out, and a neighbor comes towards me with an oath: “I’m coming from Western Union.” I wanted to receive a transfer from my son, but they told me “there is no currency.” I asked them “why?” “And they “don’t have any currency because it’s a holiday!” Don’t you understand?!” Nobody understands! And that’s how it is for them.
I had already seen the ensign posted on the street, and the neighbors’ “congratulations” were still rushing from the entrance: “Damn ghouls!”
But the markets were completely sold out - do you think the population was buying sturgeon and caviar for the holiday table? No, it’s just a day off, and you can stock up on cereals and onions for the winter, cucumbers, again, have fallen in price, and zucchini too... “You have such a stir today,” I say to the saleswoman, “despite the holiday.” “Wha-him? - She is perplexed. “What other holiday?” And that's it.
But maybe I don’t know everything, and, of course, I don’t walk the same paths as patriots. I scroll through the news feeds in search of the exaltation of the holiday, so to speak. First of all, they look through sites that sympathize with the Nazis and Euromaidan, tolerantly speaking, they are up to their ears. One posted a report from the city center: “There are a lot of people on Deribasovskaya. Odessa residents and city guests sit in cafes and walk with their children.” The publication also reported that a monument to the Gramophone was being erected in the City Garden, and teenagers were riding skateboards and scooters along Primorsky Boulevard. That's all for a short time.
Another site writes that late in the evening, in pitch darkness, “members of the Right Sector stretched out a large banner on the railing of the bridge with the inscription “Glory to the henchmen of Ukraine.” After this, the activists sang the anthem and lit fireworks and smoke bombs, thereby attracting the attention of passers-by and motorists... local residents did not even have time to call the firefighters.” Although they wanted to. And the locals don’t realize that if they burn something and yell, then it’s a fucking holiday! Simply because this cannot be!
I repeat, above we were talking about resources that broadcast Nazi ideas.
By the way, even from the “holiday” - now take shorthand - the head of the regional cell of the Institute of National Remembrance, Sergei Gutsalyuk, announced on his Facebook page that “Putin’s Mordor will be destroyed!”
Again I catch myself thinking that my grandfather was right.
But what about official events, you ask? Where are the speeches of officials, the groans of a special guest star in the form of ATO veterans? We read the dry official information on the city hall website: “October 14 is the Day of Defender of Ukraine.” Can you imagine such a remark on December 31 or May 1? Of course you have no idea. But this is precisely the case that people need to explain. “Flowers were laid at the Memorial Stone in honor of the soldiers who gave their lives for the independence and integrity of Ukraine. The ceremony was attended by military personnel, government officials, and the public.”
The public - this is understandable, especially since I already wrote that in the place where the patriots managed to shove a memorial stone, from time immemorial they have been walking dogs - of course, on the day off, dog walkers “walked” their pets with special cynicism - it’s warm, there’s no need to go to work. As for the “authorities,” there were none recognizable. There is a suspicion that the heads of the housing office and some leaders of the plumbing brigades were driven to celebrate and puff out their cheeks earnestly, because in their case the acting talent is just at the proper level to match the event.
So I have nothing to add. Besides, the grandfather was right three times.
English version :: Read in English: Day of the Vampire. Odessa. Afterword