Cristina Wang

The Melody of Peace

Russian soldier playing an abandoned piano in Chechnya in 1994

   Nobody knows what exactly happened in that moment. Even the participants couldn´t understand very clear the situation. People were screaming, running and crying because of the First Chechen War, why should they worry about a lost piano in the middle of a destroyed forest? Well, looks like someone got interested on it. But, that´s not the beginning of the story…

   In December 1991, when Russia became an independent nation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there was an urgent need for a law to clearly define the powers of each federal subject. Such a law was passed on 31 March 1992, the treaty outlined three basic types of federal subjects and the powers that were reserved for local and federal government. The only federal subjects that did not sign the treaty were Chechnya and Tatarstan. Beginning on 1 December 1994, Russian forces openly carried out heavy aerial bombardments of Chechnya. Russian forces entered the republic in order to "establish constitutional order in Chechnya and to preserve the territorial integrity of Russia". A Russian Minister proclaimed that it will be "a bloodless blitzkrieg that would not last any longer than December 20".

  Furthermore, the war brought misfortune and loss, like all battles over history. The number of bereavement increased day by day, reaching 100.000 deaths and 240.000 wounded.

   Nevertheless, Russians cabinet's expectations of a quick surgical strike, quickly followed by Chechen capitulation and regime change, were misguided. Russia found itself in a quagmire almost instantly. The morale of the Russian troops, poorly prepared and not understanding why and even where they were being sent, was low from the beginning. Some Russian units resisted the order to advance, and in some cases, the troops sabotaged their own equipment. Here enters our man, the Unknown Soldier who, even in the desperate situation he was, forgot about the problems and left his thoughts to the wind.

   The unknown was lost in the swamp, and his unit was dispersed. The phrase “never attack your enemy in his territory” was in his mind. Of course he was distressed and scared, killing people wasn´t his strong point. Before, the unknown was reluctant, he had a beautiful life with his family and a stable job in a small town. His two little daughters used to play melodies for him on their grandfather´s old piano. Nothing made him happier than that peacefulness. But winter came, bringing the list of reluctant soldiers to fight in the Chechen war. Saying goodbye was a tough job, why people had to leave the warmness of home? Government never thinks on the people, because they are never present on the battlefield.

   After walking and walking, the landscape turned grayer. The unknown felt lost in the labyrinth of wood, but nobody could support him. The only thing that could do was remember. The fire on the chimney, the smell of his wife´s dinner, his daughter’s laughs, the old piano´s musical notes…

  “This couldn’t be…” said the unknown to himself.

   There, in front of him, a brown undamaged piano was standing like a miracle. A cold tear fell from his eye. He put his weapon on the belt and touched the instrument. Cold and smutty. He only used to hear his daughters, however, after all, the soldier started to play the piano. They weren´t the best melodies, but serenity began to go all over his body. Pities disappeared, bringing the warm of his home and family. His hands moved alone, discharging his emotions, without hearing the steps coming over.

 “Oh… so beautiful”

   There were five men talking in a strange language, moving near. They finally found our unknown Russian, who still played the piano. Nobody could stop him. Nobody wanted to stop him. The five Chechens looked at him, but they didn´t shoot. They just stand silently for some minutes, and then they left quietly.

   The infinite melody never finished. The unknown´s mind flew, flew and flew. The war wasn´t there for him. But the reality was that the battle continued, and a bomb was dropped.

“I´m glad to feel you one more time, my precious family…”

Humans have to settle the war or the war will settle the humans.

Antonella Biante

Tattoos in Argentina

INTRODUCTION

With the following investigation we will try to find out whether the opinion of people in Argentina about tattoos differs between generations.

Our hypothesis is that each generation will have different points of view because tattoos have been naturalized in our society with the passing of time.

The question we intent to answer is: Argentinean´s opinion about tattoos differs between generations?

We will poll the same amount of people for each group. Once we polled, we write down the results and elaborate a conclusion that wills intent to answer our question.

METHODOLOGY

To collect data, we created a poll to be answered by people from three different generations. We understand a generation as a cohort comprising 10 years. We divided them intro de following groups:

Teenagers between 15-25 years

Adults between 35-45 years

Elders between 55-65 years

They will have to answers the following multiple choice. People can choose more than one option.

POLL

1.      What do you think about tattoos?

They are...

o   Interesting

o   Disgusting

o   Violent

o   Funny

o   Addictive

o   Cool

o   Stupid

o   I don't care

o   Other

2.      What do you think about people with tattoos?

They are...

o   Interesting

o   Disgusting

o   Violent

o   Funny

o   Cool

o   Stupid

o   Addict

o   Just as any other person

o   Other

3.      Would you employ someone with tattoos?

o   Yes

o   No

o   It depends, on what?

4.      Do you think people tend to regret about their tattoos?

o   Yes

o   No

5.      Why do you think people get tattoos?

Because they...

o   Are stupid

o   Want to communicate something

o   Want to remember something

o   It’s cool

o   It’s fashion

o   Other, what?

6.      What did you think about this poll and the covered topic?

The answer is free, to us to know which people real opinion is.

7.      Are you interested in knowing the results of the investigation?

o   Yes

o   No

Getting the poll's results is taking us more time than what we have expected, because we spread the poll through social networks, and we received more teenagers’ answers than adults. We will have to find another way of sharing the questions with adults.

Up to the moment, we have collected more than 200 answers, but 200 are from teenagers.

It’s difficult to draw partial conclusions right now, because there is too much different between the established generations. However, we'll like to share the percentage obtained when we asked the interviewed if he was interested in knowing the results of the investigation. People had to choose between “yes” or “no”, and the 91% answered they would like it. This means that most people are interested in tattoos as a social phenomenon, and perhaps it would be possible to make another investigation that deepens more on the subject.