EDA KRISEOVA
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Kurzweil: [s there anything else that you think we should know in
America that might help to alleviate your frustrations? I don't believe
that sending a lot of money is necessarily going to help.
Kriseova: No.
I
think education is most important, especially studying
abroad. That is what opens new horizons, as does learning languages.
It
makes sense to subsidize the foundations active in building this open
society. We have to work down to a lower level, because our politicians
are corrupt. You can try by reaching people who don't realize that the
politicians are lying. For instance, in the village where I am spending my
summers, they are totally self-involved; they are envious of each other;
and they are bitter and terribly negative, like children. They are think–
ing about themselves, but no one thinks of society as a whole. The rich
build beautiful houses, buy beautiful cars, but don't think of the roads
which go to their houses. That, they feel, should be done by somebody
else, even though they don't want to pay village taxes.
Kurzweil: This is no different the world over.
Kriseova: But it is so sad. Of course we need time. And peace to widen
our horizon, not to see Americans as only self-centered. Still, Americans
are getting more self-centered because they are afraid of terrorists.
Kurzweil: I am not sure. I think they are coming together in some sense.
But American society has been fragmented by a multiculturalism cen–
tered on ethnic origin, rather than on a global cu lture that includes all
countries, which, I think, is what you're thinking of.
Kriseova: Yes.
Kurzweil: On the other hand, in defense of America, I must say that it
is a country.
If
you belong to a country such as, for example, the Czech
Republic, there has to be something that makes you feel like a Czech.
Whereas in America the exaggerated focus on your origins tends to
encourage fragmentation. So, from the American point of view, because
terrorism hit everybody, it was positive to watch people of all origins
help each other. On television, you saw that people of every color and
creed walked out of the World Trade Center together, regardless of what
they looked like or what positions they held. In other words, we saw
