They expected different things from us. Waited for something nasty. For example, what will be beat. Or hurt. And feared if not frost, then scumbags, if not live bears in the streets, then wild boar spartach along with rabid army horses that will fly and trample.
Especially worried about Western media. Perhaps most of all English. The tabloids were full of headlines, as if inspired by the menacing poem “Scythians” by Alexander Blok during the Civil War. How was it there? ..
Guilty if we crack your skeleton
“Russian – normal people!”: What most surprised the French fans at the World Cup?
In the heavy, gentle paws?
And further:
We are wide in the wilds and forests
Before Europe, prigozhey
Let’s part! We will turn to you
His Asian mug!
They parted widely, but no one’s skeleton, thank God, did not crunch in hospitable embraces.
We recently fell in love with the label “Russophobia”, implying dislike to us. But, in addition to the jokes, the same English came much less than they could – a few thousand – precisely because of the phobia in the literal sense of the word. That is, because of fear and anxiety.
Now brave English tourists, fans and reporters reassure compatriots. Journalist Sean Walker treats panic-mongers, blaming ignorance. English actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal wrote a column for The Guardian, telling how his unfamiliar Russian people warmly received him. “To all the British: come to Russia and feel the love,” Mr. Rosenthal cries. He visited St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad – and everywhere was pleasantly impressed.
“Of course, talking about how fine everything is – the height of banality,” admits the columnist, “but the reaction of the Russian people to the British was diametrically opposed to what scared us.”
Yes, it’s no secret: the World Cup like the guests of Russia.
Someone will say: Well, on a fig to be stretched before abroad? Why cool, that we are so nyashnye? Better let them tremble with horror!
Listen, the World Cup allowed us to see something close to it, which is written in the antediluvian books and history books. We saw ourselves. We prove to ourselves that the best in our character is not myths. We, the truth, such. We, the truth, such can be.
Which ones? These. Generous. Open. They are welcome. Heartfelt. Everyone in Samara, Kazan, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov, Sochi, Yekaterinburg could say: “The state is me”. And this was our self-organization. We do not prove anything to foreigners, we openly and broadly affirm ourselves – ourselves. Do not be ashamed of your cities and do not be ashamed to say such a seemingly worn out word seriously: “sincerity.”
You know, it’s great when you are judged on your country. I like to smile in the center of Moscow in response to questions from a Mexican in a sombrero or a French woman in a crimson beret, to prompt a road, to specify how to get to the Tretyakov Gallery, and again to smile and smile nonchalantly …
And yet we have proven ourselves another quality: stamina. Ability to fight – stubborn and frenzied. But not with other fans on the streets. And in fair competition. Not always technically perfect, our guys were hacked to the last and from the sixtieth place broke into the top eight. It was not a shame to concede on a penalty after a draw and also not ashamed to pronounce the old-time word: “partnership.”
Do you know these words – collectivism, sobornost? Maybe obsolete, boring and winded? But suddenly they were resurrected, when all the people embraced an incredible union, and on the field lay bones and miracles our fighters, and all around became one team.
Do not need blind self-absorption. But the best that is and what is capable of, must be the foundation of our existence and development.
And these are not words. This is us. It’s physiology and psychology. Big is seen from the outside. That’s about this big, having met with Russia, and now her guests are talking.