I heard this story from my relatives, who lived in Riga, Latvia. It was in the 70s, when there was a warmer political climate between the Soviet Union and United States, when Nixon visited Moscow, and when the word American was not associated with locating the closest bomb shelter...

We felt that we were two great nations, with the only difference that American government was a disaster, but people were friendly and only needed a chance to become free... We knew that one day we would come and free them and the rest of the world, and the song about it was a very popular one...

In Riga there is a huge manufacturing enterprise, the largest of its kind in the Soviet Union, with tens of thousand employees. They were manufacturing a lot of electronic goods for other industries, and for consumers they were making those battery operated radios "Spidola", a dream of all of us.

Somehow it became known that a prominent American Union high ranking official, whose family came from Latvia, wanted to visit Latvia. At that time the arrival of American was a bigger event that arrival of ET, or somebody from Saturn. But because he was a Union guy, and Unions were everywhere in the Soviet Union, and 100% of employed (and there was not private employment in the Soviet Union at that time) were members of the Unions, the idea of arranging a meeting with a Union official from USA came to someone, and was approved by.. you know.

They were speaking the same language: labor force, workers, unions, working conditions, etc. This was a great way to show the guest how strong, tens of thousand strong the unions are in the Soviet Union. Union members could have a chance to support the struggle of Unions in the darn capitalist America, where people had to really fight for their rights.

They had the meeting in the huge main concert hall of their Palace of Culture. It was packed. People have never seen a live American and there were way more people who wanted to be there then the hall could handle. The local Union boss has introduced the guest, explained about the constant fight for the better working conditions and better life of workers, and then gave the microphone to the guest. there was no language barrier, the guest spoke fluent Latvian, and they all listened.

Pretty soon he figured that he audience was confused, so he stopped and in usual American manner asked whether someone had a question. And they had, and one guy got to the mike and asked where the guest lived.

Surprised by the question, the guest explained that he lived in his house in New Jersey. And yes, he has a car. And the workers have cars, what's the big deal? And they also live in houses with a bit of land if they choose to, and why on earht would they want to be planting potatoes there?

- The workers have houses? They do not plant potatoes? They have cars? All of them? 

-Mister, if the workers have all that, what are they fighting for?

It was a fiasco. For Latvian worker this was a description of communism. Everyone would have what they want. What more could one even be wanting? Having a home, a piece of land where you could grow some veggies, and owning a car was more than a dream. Even party officials, they had a government car with a driver, but they did not own a car.

They were saying the same words and these words described two different worlds. The worlds that were light years apart..

How often do we hear the words, and think that we know what they mean in another world? Do we understand that freedom is the most popular word in Iran and in North Korea as opposed to American oppression of their own people, and Chavez and Castro cherish a different brand of democracy?