Episode 3: What America Means To Me: Through the Eyes of an Ukrainian Immigrant

An eye opening conversation with an Ukrainian immigrant who is now an US citizen and her personal view on the meaning of America.

This is a podcast for those who love to talk common sense about everyday issues. You will listen to a variety of guests that share common sense ideas through their life experiences by sharing what they learned. For any comments, questions or suggestions for future topics, please contact the show at: stand4commonsense@outlook.com
Song title: Upbeat Indie Folk Music
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Transcript

Host: 0:00

Hi, welcome to Podcast From The Edge, Talking Common Sense. Once again, this is episode three. For today's episode. We'll be hearing from Ellie, an immigrant from Ukraine who became an American citizen over 20 years ago, and what we'll be hearing from her today is what America means to her and her personal experience. So sit back and enjoy the show. So let's start here. You were born and raised in Ukraine. How was that like, How was life like there?

Guest Ellie: 0:43

I would say it was very different than life here for sure. Um, and I don't, I don't know if I can explain it in one word, but I'll try to make it as short as I can. I just like to mention that, um, my grandparents lived through the, uh, German Nazi era during World War II. My parents and I lived under the Communistic regime for 20 years, and, uh, it actually was my personal idea to. Come to the United States and I, I don't remember how I did it, but I organized everyone we applied and we were granted permission to come over to the United States in 1994

Host: 1:47

And do you still have family back home or most of your family is here in America?

Guest Ellie: 1:54

So I came back then with my parents and my sister, also with my own small family that, uh, I put it in my ex-husband and my baby girl who was only six months old when they came over.

Host: 2:15

And how was life different here than you found in Ukraine?

Guest Ellie: 2:22

Right..uh, when, when I grew up in Ukraine, I, I watched free speech being censored. Civil rights were oppressed, Different thinking was suppressed. Children and young adults were brainwashed and in the negative. and right to choose was completely erased from existence.

Host: 2:56

So you could not really make any choices unless the government told you what to do. That's what you're trying to say.

Guest Ellie: 3:04

That is correct. They were just not giving us any choices. There was only one or two options that we ever have

Host: 3:13

And, um, from your experience, You had seen that children were being in indoctrinated and manipulated as they were growing up? Yeah,

Guest Ellie: 3:25

absolutely. Okay. As for instance, when it was just, uh, a student in our, um, from elementary to high. we were supposed to align with, um, communist party rules. And, um, in, when I tried, when I was about 16 years old, I, I had the feeling that it just didn't feel. To me, uh, I, of course, their rules didn't really express any of, of the, my interest or interests of my family at all. And why did, why I had to commit myself to keep aligning with that party, however they were even trying to coerce me to. Stick to them in a way that they told me that it, it would affect my ability to attend college to get a job.

Host: 4:53

So all, all that was under controlled by the government basically? That is correct. Okay. And how did you find then, coming to America, what life was like?

Guest Ellie: 5:06

Okay. So I was actually loved to, um, tell about this because I remember almost right after we came over, uh, everything that shame changed overnight. Uh, the sense of freedom we could feel air literally from the air when we were breathing it. We just felt so sweet and we couldn't get enough of it. um, we, we felt warmth through the smiles that were coming from the strangers s on the streets that were just unbelievable. We never were sheltered before. We would go to the stores, we would just do regular chores for shopping. Everything just felt so unbelievably unique and pleasant, and advising very welcoming. I guess. Life became joyful for once and that was very, very unique feeling.

Host: 6:28

Right. Right. How did you, um, feel about now since you're in a new country with new freedoms, that you had so many choices now?

Guest Ellie: 6:44

Right. That's another interesting, uh, fact that, um, we, when we, we start living here, we, we were overwhelmed, but that overwhelmed. Negative. It, it was kind of positive and very exciting in its own way. I remember how our most significant issue, uh, in our daily life was our inability to make choices. Um, and how puzzling it it was to just figure out how to pick and. What we wanted among the wide variety of choices in front of our eyes. And um, and it happened similarly because we were accustomed to only one, two available options. And to see so many things in front of us. we almost felt if though we were drunk Oh, right. Uh, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable, but very exciting, very happy

Host: 8:13

So when did you and your family decide to become citizens here? And what was that like?

Guest Ellie: 8:21

Okay, so, um, we were so honest by. Taking a legal boat and cross the ocean anything like that. Right. We came here legally, we wait patiently for as long as it took. Uh, we studied in pass the citizenship exam that allowed us to, uh, became US citizens. and also obtain the USA passports. That consequently allowed us to travel anywhere in the whole world. It almost gave us a free pass to life. We never had a chance to experience before.

Host: 9:22

And then you were telling me before in our previous conversation how you started to feel a change in the country.

Guest Ellie: 9:34

Honestly, I, I do see it, I do see this happening right in front of my eyes and it's, it's startify me in what. Because I've noticed this through this censorship, it seems that the country that offered us very important freedoms, such as freedom of speech, does not have that any longer. We were to express our thoughts. They, they seem to be starting to be suppressed, even here in the United States. That's unhear of, I thought the Constitution, uh, was supposed to guarantee that, not just for life, but for the ,I guess

Host: 10:35

of course. Uh mm-hmm. uh, well you had mentioned before that, um, you thought out of box thinking was being suppressed, and it's more now going towards group think.

Guest Ellie: 10:59

It looks as though if you are an independent thinker, that's not being appreciated any longer. You have to again, take, uh, sites and not the sites that you might prefer to take you. They're not that many choices anymore to choose from. It's either right at the left. It seems like that, but that's not, It just, it does not feel like the country that we came to earlier. It just, it just feels wrong. It feels so wrong. And I'm not sure how to fix this. I probably, I cannot fix this. I just, I don't understand what's going.

Host: 12:03

Yeah. And you were saying how the way the country is going right now kind of reminds you of what life was like in the country you left, um, in Ukraine.

Guest Ellie: 12:16

Exactly. No, I'm glad you mentioned that because maybe this is exactly what I, I cannot understand that maybe what you. Make us feel comfortable living in your Ukraine. Now, it seems that it's coming here. It's coming here, and we're like, Oh my God, this, this is gonna be happening. This is cannot be true. I must be dreaming and I'm watching some horrific dream or nightmare, however. It's a reality where we're living in right now.

Host: 13:02

And what would you want to tell our listeners about that? Um, do you have any words to say?

Guest Ellie: 13:12

I would like to mention that when we became citizens, we were so honored and so proud of being finally. Able to take a part of, um, such important political, um, process in the country as voting we were allowed to vote. That was huge. And so now I, I don't feel like. it makes any difference.

Host: 13:59

You, you feel as if your vote doesn't matter or count, Is that what you're saying? Um,

Guest Ellie: 14:08

yeah, something like that. It just, it feels like it just doesn't go anywhere. Yeah, I guess it does. It does not count any.

Host: 14:21

Yeah, that's, um, that's very sad to have those feelings. I think a lot of people probably, um, feel like the way you do, especially a lot of legal immigrants that have come here. What do you think about the civil rights being oppressed, as you were saying to me before and how important the Constitution is to.

Guest Ellie: 14:49

I think when we read the Constitution, we thought that it was such a unique document, as I said earlier, and I thought that those riots that were weren't offered anywhere in the whole world were guaranteed for life and not just for life, but for the eternity, And how suddenly I must have been mistaken because I don't think that this is, um, I don't think that they're granted anymore. I think that our rights being taken away again, little by little. And that field is still, I'm living in Ukraine at former Soviet unit all over again.

Host: 15:52

Yes. You had mentioned to me how you, um, spoke to one of your friends that is still living in Ukraine and you were surprised, um, how, how they were living life under propaganda, as you were saying. Did, did you wanna elaborate a little bit more about.

Guest Ellie: 16:12

I guess right now I'm sure everyone knows that there's a war going on between Ukraine and Russia, and actually I honestly cannot believe that this is even happening because both of those nations were lived like brothers and sisters. For generations and um, now they're fighting with the biggest enemies ever. I'm sorry, just it's very difficult to talk about this. Yeah, of course. But I came to my own conclusion because there's so many different opinions about this, um, that there, there is something going on in the world right now to me who consider. Myself as Christian, I see it as a war between good and evil and people who are leaving me Ukraine seem to be deceived and it's not, not their.

Host: 17:59

Deceived In what way?

Guest Ellie: 18:05

Because they, they watch their tv, they listen to their governments and they believe everything that they hear. However, uh, I think. Honestly, I, I don't have a way to, to judge them in any way because I, I did not leave for, for the war there in the way they do right now. Well,

Host: 18:41

this is also your experience. From your experience. You're making the opinions, so it's your opinion of what you are witnessing. Um, so if we just kept it at that point, do you feel that there's some sort of, um, truth that's being stolen from the people in Ukraine, or do you think that, um, what do you think their viewpoints are like? How do you think they see it? Like when you spoke to your friend, how, how does she see this war?

Guest Ellie: 19:19

I have two, uh, long time friends. Um, so one of them still lives in Ukraine, who is a PhD math professor. Yeah, that's wrong. So she, the way she sees the war Ukraine. Now, let me come back. the second friend who actually, who was a business owner in Aquarium, she had three stores in town called Mariupol. I'm sure our listeners familiar with that down already because it's been on news. in the United States for many times anyway, so she lost all of them and had to migrate to Greece just to see herself from what was happening in Ukraine. And from her telling me her story, I understood that uh, after there in, I believe it was in 2014 when there was, uh, overturned a political power in the government in Kiev. Uh, everything has changed. She said that some of the regions who were basically Russian speaking regions, they started to feel like the Iranian language, in your opinion culture were forced on that. Such a impossible degree that makes them feel very uncomfortable.

Host: 21:36

Hmm. That's interesting.

Guest Ellie: 21:38

Yeah. Before they were always, um, only speaking Russian language. Now they were supposed to speak Ukrainian language. It was very forced on them. For instance, every single document had to be in opinion, language. Every single report report had to be in opinion language. And I remember how teachers ,they used to suffer in Ukraine because now they suddenly had to conduct their lessons at schools in Ukraine and language. So that was a big struggle. And for her, for instance, her business was supposed to have signs in Ukraine and language and Uh, hanging flags.. had to be, uh, posted everywhere. And so she, she actually saw it as a quite nuisance because you cannot force, um, I guess, nationalism on anyone unless you feel that national pride within yourself in Ukraine

Host: 22:52

and people are not feeling that National pride in general

Guest Ellie: 22:57

Not at all because of the way national Pride comes from your country, flourishing your country that takes care of its own citizens in every single possible way, but that that's not what was happening. What was happening was an illusion. An illusion that was created, was created to I'm not sure what the goal was of all of that, but where they ended up is to have this work be between, um, Ukraine and Russia, and actually mostly important, I don't think it's even a war. People itself as it normally happens within like, uh, any local wars were worse. Um, is called, um, Non Civil War. Civil War if they happened within Nations. Nations hated each other, but it wasn't the case in Ukraine. As I said earlier, people loved each other like brothers and sisters no matter where they lived. I think our nation was just so friendly in love field. I'm not sure what happened to that at all, but I also know know as soon as Ukraine started to take sides with us and ask for protection from NATO, that triggered a response from. Russia. Because if you remember when Russia tried to do something similar when they built, uh, military base in Cuba, that didn't feel easy on the United States right, either. So I think that's a, it's a similarity in the situation. I guess Russia didn't feel easy with native beings so close and it's borders, right? But again, this is my opinion.

Host: 26:00

Yes, of course. Because you know, as individuals go, I'm sure people have different viewpoints on their own, but um,

Guest Ellie: 26:11

That being said that friend who is the still lives in Ukraine, she told me that, Oh, I'm just listening to Russian propaganda in that. Or you must be listening to Ukraine propaganda from Kiev. Everybody's listening to propaganda. Just, I think that's just the time that we are living in, living in else to. Yeah.

Host: 26:38

Um, alright, so as we wind down towards this really eye opening and fascinating conversation, um, what, what would you like to have the listeners take away from this conversation from you? Is it, um, cuz I know you had mentioned about the Constitution before and, um, you feel that. every inherent right that had been given to us by the Constitution or written in the Constitution is a piece of common sense. Do you still agree with that or do you want to say something further about that?

Guest Ellie: 27:21

I think that we should not. We as current citizens of the United States should not allow anyone to amend this valuable constitution because in a way, in a way it was written, it was perfect even from the time it was written. Um, and it will try to amend it little by little. It will lose its volume. It will lose its essence. Oh, would it allow this country to become so unique?

Host: 28:05

Wow..Well, thank you. Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your experience with us today. And, um, hopefully I'll have you on again and we can talk further about. Topics that are related to this. So I thank you. very much

Guest Ellie: 28:31

welcome.

Host: 28:33

Okay. Bye bye. Hi everyone. I really hope you enjoyed today's fascinating and insightful podcast with Ellie. And you got a chance to feel her emotions of how she feels the direction of her beloved country has gone. Thank you so much for listening. Until we meet again. Bye.