FROM THE EDITOR

Dr. Emzar Djgerenaia

About “henpEcking” Economic category -Yet many a gem lies hidden still
Of whom no pick-axe, spade, or drill
The lonely secrecy invades;
Bodler

I was preparing for a long-waited conversation with you, my educated and intellectually gifted readers, when suddenly the light went out (God bless people who turned it off. The atmosphere became even more cozy and intimate. Only my laptop screen emitted light, and thoughts about the future of humankind and working masses came to my old, wrinkled brain. And then I understood what a nightmare this electricity was ? you pay money for it and it shines shamelessly into your eyes and chains you to TV screen and plenty of night shows transmitted by all channels so that you cannot take your eyes off. Electricity is very harmful for thinking, let alone demography). It is no big deal, you might say. But, please, do not hurry. This was why my muse visited me! Electricity went out and muse came! Suddenly at night with the sun shining and the moon falling asleep today, I thought of different treasures and remembered Bodler’s words. I do not know what the great poet meant, but I was thinking about the treasures of our earth as well as energy resources, minerals and other treasures. Georgia is a rich country!
We have a little bit of everything. If our country had natural economy, this would last us for the whole life. However, we remain to be poor with there being globalization everywhere. I remembered that there was plenty of oil in Saudi Arabia, but 30% of population is unemployed and 60% has no education let alone creative and cultural level. True, the royal family of the country has a 180-billion capital in the US, but what do people have to do with it?
The matter is in laziness! Take, for instance, our friendly country Japan. They have no treasures in the earth, but they have them in head. And a question occurred to me about where our part of treasures was hidden here in Georgia? Have you ever thought of it?
Economics scientist speak about capitalized geopolitics and transit. Someone has discovered oil on the bottom of the Black Sea and in desert. But there is also Borjomi and marganese. There is no limit to the polemics of scientists about the potential of our country; but can we call treasures things that are hidden 20,000 meter deep under earth? May be not yet. We have treasures on surface, too: water, earth, air, etc.
Here electricity was turned on. Its ignorance is so annoying that it gives one a headache. As for head?.. That is where Georgian treasures are concealed ? in head, brain, and consciousness. Here is our salvation! We are reasonable, gifted so that we can turn the whole world over, but we conceal it carefully. We are not afraid of strangers, but of our people because if someone turns out to be cleverer than others he will be “henpecked”, as our great writer said. As all of us are clever, we constantly and mercilessly “henpeck” each other. The recipe of our salvation is said to be concealed in education, free economy and market system, in territorial integrity, but not in envy and hatred to neighbors, in arrogance and mutual hostility! We must stop being at enmity with each other as Georgian gene is unique, it can even render a stone habitable and make the whole world surprised!
The greatest discovery of Adam Smith (for your information, he was head of customs in Scotland), the greatest economist of all epochs, was that human being was a knot of passions. He called the passions egoism, i.e. private interest. All his further research was based on this theory.
We are the same people, but we reveal the passion in interrelations with each other. It is our national peculiarity. We give more thought to taking our revenge on somebody, destructing, taking something from somebody, squealing, defaming, arresting somebody, doing someone harm than to the way of building something in the future. That is why we are not free and we have a little bit of everything as well as a little bit of electricity. We meet God knows who with outstretched arms, but we reproach our neighbors. Such are customs of hospitality. We imitate and copy all strange and foreign things, but we destruct ours. We are children of our time. If we stop “henpecking” each other, we find our treasures (in each other) that are hidden in the consciousness of each Georgian, and the country will start recovering. There is so much hatred in us that sometimes I think that Orthodox religion has not reached us.
We started to make first steps, declared financial amnesty, started to appreciate Georgian business and support domestic investments. At the same time, we try to carry our reforms in economy and education fields, but the main thing is, probably, a mental metamorphosis, i.e. reform of consciousness. As scientists say, it is the most complex and lasting kind of reforms as a result of which a human becomes internally free and creatively-minded when economy becomes led by private property and initiative. At it turns out that striving to mutual “henpecking” is an integral part of the reform. Otherwise we find ourselves in a vicious circle ? we have treasures in our head, in our consciousness and talent, but one cannot reach it with a shovel because we are afraid of each other and are hiding it since we know that the poet said “no one knows anything about a partridge untill it flies up”. We will not get rid of it till we have implemented other reforms. But still what should we begin with? What should we attach a prerogative to? Yet we need the treasures like air.
Electricity went out. Again different thoughts occur to me. This time I decided to think of mutual henpecking as economic category and its role in the issues of economic safety.
Where are our treasures really concealed ? in head, earth or??