Criminologists Study Criminals who Get Caught; Political Scientists, the Ones who Aren’t, Russians Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 2 – According to the latest Russian anecdote, criminology is the science which studies criminals who get caught, that is who are losers, while the field of research which studies successful criminals, those who manage to avoid very caught by the police, is called political science.

In her latest collection of Russian anecdotes, Larisa Kazakevich offers a variety of others including three which contain important moral lessons for Russians and others as well (publizist.ru/blogs/115058/47453/-):

·       Scientists have shown that human beings can easily life to at least 120 years but when life is hard, 60 is the maximum life expectancy.

·       Rudeness is the deliberate inflicting of pain by giving your opinion when no one has asked for it.

·       When you listen to a Russian song, you have the impression that prison is the most wonderful place on earthy, where talented, educated and loving people nonetheless have to “sit.”

·       A mouse noticed that a farmer had put a mousetrap in front of his door. He told the chicken, the sheep and the cow about it. All of them said “that’s you problem not ours.” Later a snake fell into the mousetrap and then bit the farmer’s wife. To heal her, the neighbors prepared a chicken soup and slaughtered the sheep and the cow to feed those who came to visit. All this time, the mouse watched and did nothing. The moral of this story is that just because something doesn’t affect you directly, don’t think it will never come back to haunt you.

·       A rabbit saw an eagle resting in the branches of a tree and asked whether he, the rabbit, could rest and do nothing where he was. The eagle said certainly, but then a fox came and ate the rabbit. The moral here is simple: to be able to sit and do nothing, you have to have a very high perch.

·       A veterinarian told a farmer that his horse would have to be put down the next day if the horse didn’t get better. A sheep heard this and the next morning told the horse to stand up or die. The horse struggled but rose to his feet. The farmer declared the horse’s recovery a miracle and decided to celebrate by slaughtering the sheep. The moral here too is simple: don’t forget what can happen if you don’t mind your own business.