A couple of days ago I was asked to make a translation of the Law on Agricultural Cooperatives from Georgian into English, which was meant to be sent out to the International Cooperative Alliance for comments thereof. I am chronically short of time but I agreed to do the job because I am interested in matters concerning the global cooperative movement in general and a chance for this movement to be developed here in Georgia, in particular.

Isn’t Russia an interesting country? It has everything – vast lands, deep waters, rich minerals, great vodkas, the precious darling of the nation Putin, and guess what! A newly created movable border with Georgia! This is a cute little, but a very funny border. It can move back and forth anytime the brave Russian soldiers are given a chance to play with it.

Nations, groups of people, families and individuals – all those categories have their own strong and weak points. The strong points are helping them to survive and the weak ones are in there way to success. Isn’t this patently obvious? So it is absolutely natural that we are all trying to develop our strong points and get rid of the weak ones if we have any. If otherwise, then we are certainly out of our mind.

By existent popular definition, Political Media are communication vehicles owned, ruled, managed, or otherwise influenced by political entities, meant to propagate views of the related entity. By this particular definition our national media is absolutely political.

The subject I am embarking on today is not exactly my regular bread and butter, and I am sure I will consequently be barraged with indignant questions and cynical comments for my brash attempt of stealing the show from those who know better in the field. So much for those sugary apologies!
Let us now start with a little innocent but straightforward question: why can’t this heavenly land of good people and rich nature provide for wellbeing of only three to four million people we actually are, so that all of us here feel happy and sated? My personal grass-root-based answer is: our economic ignorance plus our unbridled infatuation with obfuscated political dealings and embittered account settlings.

Is life fun with cell phones? Yes! Are we better connected now than ever before? No doubt! Do we need our pocket communication machines to survive more easily than in the past? We certainly do! And yet, is there something wrong with the universal walkie-talkie webbing? I should say so! And what would be that? Time! The wasted time on unnecessary blabber and texting, especially among the young! They say one in ten children in Great Britain has the mobile by the age of five. Imagine what’s happening in higher age groups!

Last week, I started giving these hints and tips to my foreign friends and the tourists and my compatriots too because I don’t want them to be overly surprised and embarrassed when they inevitably come across those habits of ours while they have to do with this culture (look for the first 10 tips in previous issue):

This one is a kiss-off piece of mine for the time being, but it will be continued in the next issue of GJ. Not enough room in one article! I would love to remind those who are from various foreign countries, either visiting or working in Georgia in certain missions or browsing the Internet in pursuit of some information about Georgia, that we Georgians have many funny habits which they need to take into consideration while they have to do with this nation. Some of those habits are so nasty that I am starting hating myself when I imagine them being part of my manners and character. By the way, these tongue-in-cheek, but seriously intended hints and tips need to be heeded by my wonderful compatriots too. So, heads up, my friends!

Main direction of contemporary man’s thought and the most optimal model of modern human behavior would probably be compatible with our shared and mutual happiness in a small place like our good old earth, but we do not exactly know what that shared and mutual happiness could mean in actuality. By the most educated presumption, human happiness might have more components and prerequisites than we can possibly imagine, but some of those ingredients are clearly salient – good health, freedom, independence, strong chance of survival, elevated standard of living, peace, longevity, rich and happy household, the self-expression opportunity, talent put into practice, ability to travel and see the world, power of positive influence on the surrounding reality, etc. How about membership of a nation in NATO and the European Union? Could that serve as a reason for human happiness of an average national?