A Perspective On Freedom

I thought it appropriate that my son returned home on the Fourth of July after studying abroad in Russia for seven weeks. He should have some new-found appreciation for the freedoms this country has to offer, I thought.

But hearing his stories in the week since he returned home, I feel it was I who gained a new perspective on the meaning of freedom.

Scott said Russians in general do not hate Americans, but nor do they envy them. Why not? As he described his experiences over there, I think I began to learn the answer.

Every time Scott says he rode in a Russian taxi, he instinctually reached for the seatbelt. And each time his Russian driver stopped him, saying, “You don’t need that.” Of course, here in Michigan they have checkpoints where police watch drivers and passengers to make SURE they’re buckled in. If not, they’re stopped and ticketed.

So are they better drivers in Russia? Not really. In fact, after being told “you don’t need that” by one of his Russian hosts, Scott was taken on a thrill ride in a private car around the expressways of Volgograd, at excessive speeds, bouncing over the pavement and weaving in and out of traffic. “I thought I was going to die,” Scott recalled.

Aren’t there traffic laws and police to enforce them in Volgograd, I asked. Well, if so, Scott didn’t notice. It seemed like controlled anarchy on the streets there. One driver pulled a U-turn right in the middle of a busy intersection in the face of a stream of oncoming traffic.

Scott also told of going to a pub with his 16-year-old “Russian sister.” She drank openly there, even though the official drinking age is 18. Drinking laws? “They’re apparently not enforced,” Scott said. Contrast that with a law recently passed in Tennessee which requires EVERYONE to show identification upon purchasing alcohol, even a 70-year-old.


When Scott visited a Russian cinema, he was surprised to see Russian men carrying in a couple beers under each arm. By the way, there are few Russian movies. Nearly all movies shown at the cinema are American-made. No restrictions on the import of American culture? I thought everything was government controlled in Russia.

Then there’s the flourishing Russian black market, prostitutes openly hanging out at the local hotel where the American students were staying (reportedly the Michigan State University professor in charge of the study abroad program had an agreement with the hotel manager to keep the ladies of the evening away from the MSU students) . . . even dogs roam free in the streets.

Huh? Where’s the oppression? Where’s the heavy handed government totalitarianism.?

My father said he knew of some visitors from Russia who were anxious to leave America. Too many laws, too many restrictions. They longed to return to Russia. And freedom.