I asked myself the question, why they worship these persons, and exalt them to the skies? Undoubtedly, after a long life they have left a great work. However, the majority of them were great some centuries ago. Why they should be role models for us? Why the whole world should has to bow before them, despite the fact that they are stars and secret personalities first of all for personal their people. Besides, none of the writers did not have desire to live their personal life as Tukay or Shevchenko, Abul-Ala al-Marri or Dostoevsky, and go through their life challenges. However… as the life goes, something like the silhouette of the forest in the distance becomes more clear after the leaves’ falling on the trees, and after the violent thoughts cooled down, I changed my mind. For us it is very important to have personalities next to us, because they are great. This is the first. And every great personality is a part of world treasure. Second, as mentioned above, in order a nation realized itself as a people, they must magnify them. This must be done in order to feel like a child of the nation, and in order to feel fully Human.
Otherwise, all the nations that have received the recognition and left their deep light in history, for example, the Germans with their — Goethe, the Spanish — with Cervantes, the Italians with Dante, they could not be able to aggrandize on the scale of the planet, to such a high level . Many examples can be provided from the Eastern world as well.
There is no sense to argue that we can magnify only the worthy of them. To achieve this goal, they need heaviness, just as you can not throw fluffy feathers – they will hover in the air depending on the wind direction. And in order to guide future generation during the Sabantui Spirit forward it requires an immortal work. If we want to talk about immortality, the best example for us is Tukay, his life and work.
Immortality — a word that has gained great meaning. Knowledge of immortality, perhaps, is the highest point in the desire of mankind. No one can accurately show and explain the way of Immortality. Otherwise, they would not look for the living water in fairy tales, Faust would not fail in his intention, would not have died the lovers Leyla and Mazhnun, would not have crucified Christ, and selfless heroes would not rush into the flames.
Immortality way is based on several principles: from the fact that, you must be in the truest sense of the word the clean and the wisest child of his time, to be the source of solving problems of that epoch, to be concerned about the fate of his people (each nation in a different period of time has its problems), and ending with the ability to foresee clearly and predict the future of his people.
In my opinion, Tukay is a poet who complies with all these principles. We must not forget about another aspect of the soul of our nation. The fact that Tukay was gone being young like a prophet, at his 27, is also one of the proven ways to Immortality. It is no coincidence that our people composing legends dedicated to the tragic death at an early age of girls or boys. And from this point of view, Tukay is also very much consistent with the Code of Immortality.
And finally, in order to recognize the great personality, to give appreciation to his Greatness it requires the presence of the contemporaries, corresponded to that time. In order to save the future divine spirituality, in order to rise, we need grandchildren — thus the birth of a new generation of children is required. In order to distinguish the voice of a nightingale, you must be familiar with a variety of bird voices. And from this point of view, Tukay is a lucky person, his work coincides with a period of Renaissance for our people, when creativity of the Tatars had the creative impulse. It was the period of the opening of spiritual beacons of Nation’s greatness. The next generations in perceiving the greatness of spirituality and its assessment was even wiser. Descendants showed and unveil the greatness of Tukai and gave his work to the future generations. Whatever we say in this case, the main hero is Tukay, his amazing work as he is one of the only creator in the vast Russia in the early XXth century. He was an orphan and did not get education in the public institutions, lived a short life, lived alone, he managed to leave the immortal work of 5-6 volumes – do you know anyone else with such a life among his contemporaries?
Tukay, fortunately knew his own worth. In June 1974, while holding the Pushkin Days in my notebook these lines was appeared:
«Not seeing the stars and the sun, how could you know the moon!
It was only when he saw the homeland of Pushkin,
Could realize the greatness of Tukay»
When I wrote the opening remarks, then again I read all the volumes of Tukay and found these lines from his poem «Pushkin and me.»
«And even in this, I don’t see myself below Pushkin
And if you give a correct assessment of his work,
So his greatness is not above mine.»
I don’t want to rate higher or lower; however, the word is said!
Every nation wants to have a place under the Sun. «Did our people die? Or just still asleep?» – this question, fortunately, today no longer exists. Where to move after you wake up? Here are basically thoughts and feelings. The creativity of Tukay by itself is support for us in the period of recovery and self-empowerment. In this case, the poets are representatives of the awaken and realized its essence people. There is a feeling that through poems dedicated to G. Tukay in books published for the anniversary of the great poet, they try to reveal their secret and Holy thoughts and ideals. Among them — lost statehood, the desire to be among the free nations of the world. And if Tukay was able to show the path to this dream, he became for us a kind of window.
Ravil Faysullin
Translation by Ilsiya Garipova