The Heritage of Ancestors - страница 2

The origins of the word "Uzbek" is identified with the proverb: "O’ziga – xon, o’ziga – bek" (“He is his own khan, and his own bek”). Uzbek is the owner of his destiny – his life will depend on how he arranges it. This proverb contains an intuitive understanding of causal-investigator relations in the social phenomena. Folk wisdom is concentrated in proverbs and sayings collected for many centuries. Uzbek folklore is reach in proverbs on the subject of human dignity.

Dignity is beginning from the respect of the own personality. Makhtumkuli – the lovely poet of Khorezm and Turkmeniya, on whose poems there have been sung many songs (and written proverbs) for more then 250 years – was simply and clearly explaining the meaning of dignity:

As a Khorezm hafiz (folk-singer), the favourite of the whole Uzbekistan, Kamildjan Ataniyazov was singing:

If we refer to Uzbek linguistics, folklore, then the synonym of 'dignity' is the word 'value'. The widespread expression – to strengthen one's own dignity – “o’z qadrni o’tkazish” – literally means "to prove one's own value".

The value is proved not by the power of money, authority, arms or constraint, it is proved by moral, spiritual authority, demand by the closest surrounding and environment – family, cultural atmosphere, community, state, the nation finally.

Eastern and Western thinkers were emphasising the sense of proportion in the upbringing of the own dignity's perception. Great Uzbek classic Alisher Navoi 5 centuries ago was writing about measure and personality's dignity: