Yes we have some cops in Russia, but they would never be there when and if they are needed. That is not a bad thing after you experience it for years like I have. After being in Russia for almost 6 years now. I have had my share of altercations. You can’t live anywhere that long, without at least some interesting times of trouble. So I am no stranger to what happens if a cop is called in Russia…
Nothing happens – That is what happens…
Russia is basically a safe, well run, lawless society, so to speak! Oh – I know that there is laws on the books that say “don’t do this and don’t do that”, but no one is going to be there to enforce said laws…
Perfect example: Two guys get into a fight! Punches are thrown and bloody noses/black eyes all around. Someone actually thinks to call the police, while they are kicking each other butt. No cop will ever show. Most likely no one will have answered the call to the police station. I know because after 6 years in Russia I have made a few police calls and know the results. So the two guys have bloody noises and black eyes and are collapsed on the ground after they beat each other. Then they make up and go back to drinking. That is what is expected and what will happen. The time the cop gets involved is if one of them kills the other. Then you will have a cop show up…
So with such a lax police situation in Russia you would think that Russia is the perfect “Wild West” syndrome? Not so! In fact it is the opposite of such a stipulation. Russia is very safe and secure virtually all times. Yes – we have our moments, but safety rules in Russia, in comparison to the Western world. Moscow is one of the biggest cities in the world and running around Moscow is as safe as most small towns in America. Once again, I know because I live in Moscow…
The police have their function and as I have written before you have several types of police, but the one thing that police are really here in Russia for, is to calm the people after the fact of the crime or happening. We in Russia do not expect the police to protect us and as such we protect ourselves. Sveta says that cops are, “Psychologists!”
So while I am drinking that morning cup of coffee, I am thinking about why we have to have so many law enforcement agencies in America? What is the main difference in mentality, between Russia and America? Why did I have to worry about the gunshots in Cincinnati from “Over The Rhine”, striking my house. Why do we look over our shoulder in the country all the time as moonshine is made or pot is grown? Why did I live that way in America and here in Russia with virtually no cops available at anytime, do I never have any issues? Why is it that everywhere I went in an American city you are faced with a cop in a car watching you? Why does the lack of police seem to be better? Why does the presence of so many police in America seem terrible?
Maybe we (humans) are not as bad as what people seem to think and the fact is that most people who relies upon others to protect them seem to instigate more issues than would be necessary to have a good life. Just because you have a law to protect you does not mean that you are correct. Just because you can flap your jaws and irritate someone that can beat your ass in the ground, does not make you correct. If a cop was not easily available and retaliation was not forthcoming by a phone call. Then just maybe you would think twice about telling your neighbor that he is a butt hole or cutting your neighbors crab apple tree down, because it falls two inches onto your newly surveyed property line…
Example: I remember my in-laws from a previous marriage. They got into a huge fight with the neighbors over some stupid property line issue. The cops where called a hundred times as one side or the other irritated the other side. One would start a fight and the spouses of the other would call the police. The police would run to the houses as if it was an emergency. Then sometime after it all calmed down it would start all over again. My father in law was wrong and if the other guy could have beat his ass one time, I promise that it would have been over real quick. Instead each one spent 10,000 plus dollars building bigger fences and putting up spot lights to irritate the other. I liked my father in law, but in this case he was wrong and because he played the games with the laws and police he was able to “act the fool” and be protected. By the way my father in law was the one who started it and it was over the fact he tried to build a fence and take the neighbors property away, by over a foot difference…
It just dawned on me what the big difference is! You see that is why I write these articles. I am trying to figure out why things are different in Russia than America. Well the statement “act the fool” answers my question…
In Russia if you “act the fool” you will be shunned or possibly have the crap beat out of you! No police will come to allow you to continue to “act the fool” and no one will care that you are a poor fool and or laying on the ground with a bloody nose and black eye. They know that you did it too yourself by either acting the fool or being a fool…
It seems that in America we cater to the fools and some of the biggest caterers are the police and government. We have made it their job to protect the fools. In America there are a lot of fools…
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom: by Charles Spurgeon…