By Saša Janković
Dear Iljir,
It has been quite some time since I last wrote to you, mainly because I was waiting for an opportunity to write about something beautiful and good—a rare occasion amidst our „endless abnormality.“
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your previous letter. I completely agree with you that the West, too, is slipping into crisis – of every kind: a crisis of political vision and values, a crisis of principles, a crisis of legitimacy in institutions of power, a crisis of efficiency – not to mention the classic forms of crises: security and economic ones. Five to ten years ago, I used to provocatively tell my Western friends that Serbia was „avant-garde“ for their countries, in the sense that phenomena already visibly taking root in Serbia would eventually spread in their own states and societies, as they underestimated the allure of such evils. I take no pleasure in seeing this prediction come true, nor in the fact that role models are now so hard to find. Our faltering societies would rise more easily if they could find solid support in the stable and functional democracies of the world. However, if we must, we shall rise on our own.
And here we come to the development that has given me the opportunity to write again, with reality-based optimism: the student protests across Serbia!
In the darkness we had begun to accept as our inevitability and fate, a bright light shone unexpectedly. Skeptical as I’ve unfortunately become, in an effort to avoid repeated painful disappointments, I initially thought this was merely a spark that would flare briefly only to extinguish and leave the surrounding darkness even more apparent. But no – now it is entirely clear that our children, these young people, are the enduring light! With wisdom, perseverance, simplicity, and an almost superhuman superiority, they have risen above the situation and, through their virtues, awakened the best within us.
On December 22 in Belgrade, a magnificent gathering of students (I believe this is the first time I’m using that word, so overused it had become disdainful, but now it strikes me as the only fitting expression) illuminated all of Serbia – and from what I hear, our region as well, so longing for light! Standing on the periphery with friends in support, I felt that Slavija – that eye of Belgrade – for those surreal 15 (+1, in honor of the innocent victim in Zagreb) minutes of silence was the center not only of Serbia, not only of the region, not of Europe or the world, but of the entire good universe.
We desperately need that goodness. We need to focus on it, rather than allowing our words, thoughts, and lives to revolve around bad actors and the negative consequences of their harmful policies, thus inadvertently making them the center of our lives and strengthening them. That’s why I do not mention, even with a single word, all the evils that have occurred in Kosovo and throughout (all of) Serbia since we last „spoke.“ Not because they were insignificant or few in number – they weren’t – but because I wish to renew and strengthen myself through a sense of pride, not shame. I want to see the victorious smile on the faces of good people. I need a sense of meaning and creation, not the futility and further destruction of everything around me.
That’s why, fueled by the light our youth have shone upon us, I’m doing all I can to ensure that Serbia, and hopefully the entire region, will transition from being a precursor of general decline to becoming a source of hope and inspiration for finding the way out of the bewilderment into which Europe and the world have entangled themselves. Only great ideas and goals give us power!
Warmest regards from a light-bathed Belgrade!
Saša J
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
