"By Bread Alone" or a Problem with the Ukrainian Flag

There used to be a monument to Lenin on top of this rectangular part. Now, it's pained with the Ukrainian national symbols and with three poems, one on each side, written by the Ukrainian poets.

The raise of patriotism in Ukraine can be seen everywhere on the streets today. The colors of its national flag, blue and yellow, are all over the place. I have never seen so much of blue-and-yellow hue in my homeland in my life. This display of patriotism makes me happy and has infected our home too. Following the national fashion, we had the Ukrainian flag hanging from our Christmas tree, and now it’s hanging on my wall.

However, a visual display of patriotism does not equal to improvements in lives. I have been analyzing problems of my country for quite a long time, and I’d like to share my thoughts now with the help of the Ukrainian flag. I have recently arrived to a conclusion that the meaning behind the colors of the most seen Ukrainian national symbol may have served Ukrainians badly and I’ll explain why I think so in this post. Let’s unwrap the shiny cover and see why the candy inside does not match its outside look.

A patriotic grafity spelling the name of the city "Chernihiv" refreshed the look of this really old falling apart building look.

Walls of the underground road

An add on the store says, "Purchase Ukrainian goods!"

A fund raising box for the Ukrainian army

Spot Ukrainian flags on balconies

New contrsuction

A loan add

Flags over an entertainment complex

I was taught two meanings of Ukrainian flag’s colors in school when I was a kid. The first meaning is that blue stands for the sky and yellow stand for plains of golden wheat that Ukraine has been blessed to have. It has gained fame of the breadbasket of Europe because its natural conditions with the most fertile soils, great climate, and lack of natural disasters coupled with hard work of people produced large amounts of wheat which is the bread’s soul. The vast fields of golden wheat are often glorified in poetry and stories about Ukraine from the past. The soil is so good, that when German Nazis came to Ukraine, they literally dug the soil, put it on their trains and transported to Germany.

The second meaning is that blue stands for water (the most important resource for human survival) and yellow stands for gold or wealth.

I have realized now that both meanings signify importance of a few material parts of our life, whereas other nations use flag colors to signify important values. For example, the U.S. flag’s colors meaning is the following: white stands for purity and innocence, red stands for hardiness and valor, and blue stands for vigilance, perseverance and justice.When a U.S. kid learns these meanings, the kid focuses on the principles that are important to follow to maintain and improve its country. For example, one interpretation can be ‘pure thoughts and necessity for just and courageous actions’. If there is bribery going on, the people will uproar with courage to the fact that bribery is unjust.

It has always perplexed me how Ukraine, having a great amount of resources and not that many people to share those resources, kept remaining poor on average. I think that the symbolic focus on the material wealth instead of on the principles of how to manage that wealth properly and justly has partially contributed to it. If values are not discussed as important, you only think that having vast fields of wheat is the most important wealth in your country.

An example of a good symbol in Ukraine is the presence of the word “Freedom” in its coats of arms called Tryzub. Ukrainians have fought for freedom from the surrounding neighbors for quite a while and now need other strong values that can guide them to maintain and protect their freedom. The last-year’s Revolution of Dignity and the Orange Revolution show that Ukrainians understand that there are deep problems in their society that need to be worked on and that they are ready to work. They are arriving at the conclusions of which reforms are necessary to make to improve their lives, and the new government passes laws to reflect the new wishes of its citizens. Ukrainians wanted to join the E.U.’s economic zone as a symbolic step to getting closer to the European values. While the past Ukrainian president, Yanukovych, decided to decline signing an agreement with E.U., Ukrainians not only protested the decision, but also started saying that they need to use European values without waiting to join the EU to gain them. That is a great step because Ukrainians started owning themselves, their lives, their values, and started improving themselves and the society around them. It would be great to maintain these awakening and improvement, symbolize it in the national symbols and teach kids those values that will help them create a good society.

Focus on important values for Ukrainians is important not only for the internal happiness of the country, but also for maintaining its strength in the world. In order for Ukraine to become successful in the future, it needs to use the new principles to diversify its production. Modern powerful and successful countries build their power and good quality of life for its citizens not by having one resource in abundance, like wheat, but by managing multiple resources in the best way possible. These resources are physical, human, and informational. Having one resource as the main export product like oil hit economies of Russia and Venezuela recently because of the decrease in oil’s price. Countries that can provide a variety of goods and services to many countries, on the other hand, flourish. Ukraine should move away from being known as a breadbasket and gain popularity for a variety of other great creations. Golden fields of wheat is not enough. “Man shall not live by bread alone”, as the Bible says.

So, what values should Ukrainians choose to guide them?