From Russia with Love

The woman my mother works for is Russian, and gave my mother some candy that had been brought to her from Moscow. In the Russian woman's words, "This is the best chocolate in the world." Well it's not; but it was good.

However, the chocolate was special to the Russian woman because it was from home; the chocolate was special to my mom because the woman said it was the best ever, and well it came from Russia; the chocolate was special to me because my mom knows I really like chocolate and wanted to share her special chocolate with me, the wrapper was pretty cool, and well it came from Russia.

The "came from Russia" bit is the most fascinating to me.  It fascinates me that I am so fascinated by Russia, that most Americans are fascinated by Russia. Russian is...well, sexy. Russian spies, Russian supermodels, Russian Brides, all of Bond's arch enemies are Russian;Russian cab drivers are my favorite. Bond is British so maybe the British are fascinated by Russia too, and after everything that happened in World War II, I would think most of Western Europe would have the same fascination, but wait, considering Moscow changed the political face of the Eastern world, I think we just have to simplify and say the entire world finds Russia sexy. Ok, this was supposed to be a two sentence blog, but now I that I've started rambling, I really want to keep going. lol

I think the reason for our fascination lies in the Jungian concept of an Archnemesis. The Urban Dictionary's definition of archnemesis is my fav: "Friends from a long time ago that have more or less equivalent powers, but also have oposing ideologies. They are therefore always fighting with each other." My definition: soulmates gone bad. Allies during World War II, The United States and Russia emerged as the two superpowers after the war, because they were the only nations able to stop Hitler. Oddly enough when the relationship went sour during the Cold War, the rest of the world seemed to side with one superpower or the other, and just like in a bad breakup, the two superpowers kept silently competing. America that prides itself on being independent and tough found its counterpart in Russia that has only survived its turbulent history and ferocious terrain through an independence and resilience that must have been carved out genetically through text-book survival of the fittest. Mystery solved; everyone is fascinated by archnemeses: Obi Wan and Darth Vader, Professor X and Magneto, Eminem and Kim. But the powerful connection that creates archnemeses, and the dynamics of such a relationship is still a mystery. So Russia is fascinating because...it mysteriously fascinates us. Like I said Russia is...well, sexy; )