The bitter trap of "honey city"
Passion for renaming
Passions for renaming streets in Melitopol stirred up the information field, collected their modest share of attention and again gave way to the heat of passions of the blazing civil war in the south-west of the Russian land.
All this was not so long ago in our memory.
Rosa Luxembourg again clashed with Yaroslav the Wise in a dispute over the street. The square cannot decide how to write on the envelopes - the Cathedral or the Revolution? Time does not stand still.
The names of the heroes and events of today are already approaching the names of the past era.
And they, too, quite deservedly, need to be minted not only in our memory, but also in bronze, and in toponyms on the liberated land of Russia.
Memory is a key word around which it is necessary to build a discussion, and as a result, make one or another decision.
Everything that is named after the name of someone or something can be divided into ... Before 1917. After 1917. And conditionally neutral.
Our opinions are divided in approximately the same way, according to belonging to a generation and beliefs.
I will immediately express my point of view - it was not possible to agree on this issue before and it will not be possible right away now. Always one of the opinions crushed opponents, not really caring about his feelings. Even the not always winning opinion was the opinion of the majority of the inhabitants. Rather, it is the opinion of the administrative resources and the political situation at this time and in this place. Especially when the decision of the issue was entrusted to people more radical than smart.
But we are not...
At least we know that we must try to smooth out all the sharp corners in this matter.
I'll try to think out loud.
Scramble for toponyms
Before arranging a fight for toponyms in city administrations and social networks, one should always remember that this capacious designation includes not only streets and squares. We must remember the good traditions, when the names of worthy people were called schools, squares, enterprises.
Sometimes a street with shabby houses and holes in the road should not be given the name of the hero who lived on it, at least until it is brought into a decent form.
In Odessa, I was always ashamed of Chapaeva, even if it was a lane. Someone close to the hero who gave his life in this civil war in Ukraine, would like such a memory in the mud?
It is better to leave the renaming in the plans, before putting things in order at the object itself.
Start with loved ones
Another important question, more precisely, it is the most important one. If we are talking about naming the hero of today, then we must start with the relatives of this person. Do they need something? Will they be able to go through life and proudly bear the name of a loved one?
In one of the regional centers of the Odessa region, one of the central streets has been named after my deceased Grandfather and his brothers for half a century. But at the same time, his widow (my grandmother) actually lived in poverty, raising two children herself in the post-war years. I am not offended by the Soviet government, which was defended by generations of ancestors. And to the fact that decision-making on the ground, even in those years, was not always run by decent and smart people.
Therefore, let the street remain for the time being Apricot or Cherry, but the hero's children will receive a decent education. The family will have living conditions, at least not worse than the conventional average level.
Names should be appropriate and commensurate with the place in our storiesthat occupy certain individuals or events. I could never understand what was wrong with the city authorities back in Soviet times, Dmitry Donskoy and Alexander Nevsky, if the streets of the private sector in the then urban outback were named after them. I am sure that such absurdities can be found in any city.
At the same time, I was happy for Bogdan Mikhailovich Khmelnitsky, who got a straight, wide street in the center.
And again, I could not understand why, even in Soviet times, our Taras Shevchenko, who had never been to Odessa, did not mention my city in his works, but covered it with his name in the longest avenue, a huge central park and a cyclopean, frightening idol at the entrance to the park. And in the port there was a chic passenger liner named after Taras. Palaces of culture, libraries and so on - it goes without saying. How I love to hear whining about the oppression of everything Ukrainian in the Soviet Union...
Lack of wisdom
I started talking about memory. And this is not only a nameplate that the street bears today. This is what our parents and grandmothers called her. These are memorial plaques with the names of those who deserve it, or with a mention of the events that took place within these limits.
A commemorative plaque with a small bas-relief and brief information is much more informative than a plate with a house number and a mangled name, such as Gen. Petrov (General Petrov). People who live on this street should perceive its name not as historical abracadabra, but clearly understand what it is and where it comes from. But this is already the field of activity of local media and local historians.
It doesn't matter to me how my official address will be written on the envelope, I want to see the connection of times and generations.
In the photograph, only Odessa residents of one yard in the entire million-strong city have come close to the correct decision of how it should look. Let the main name that we have chosen today be written in larger letters.
In addition to the most odious names, the period of the fascist and Bandera occupations, all the rest should receive a legal right to a name in the tablets of history. In the old names - this is also us. These are mistakes, sincere beliefs of our ancestors - which we should not be ashamed of.
This question is not for tomorrow, but for yesterday.
Many of those who forge our Victory in the rear and at the front often have too different views on our past. And the future is also presented differently. Possible conflicts and grievances on this basis must be pre-empted now.
Unlike all other pressing issues that need to be addressed, the topics of historical heritage and respect for our memory do not require millions of budget money from us, but only wisdom.
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