Last weekend my wife, son and I joined a group of our
friends and acquaintances in a small village near Pozega in Croatia to help
harvesting apples in a friend’s orchard. We all enjoyed warm sun and light
breeze of that early autumn day and even the hard work – and we did work hard
for some hours – did not bother us that much. As a matter of fact I enjoyed
working out my muscles which are regularly unused and bored by my usual work –
typing on computer. In addition to the nice weather and the rare opportunity to
exercise, I also enjoyed the company of people who gathered from across Croatia,
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to help a friend in need. Joyful day was
completed with tasty lunch of pot-cooked beans, home-made cakes and sealed with
a sing-along with couple of guitars.
The comradeship reminded me of the days long gone, when
friends, relatives and neighbors were regularly meeting over coffee and helping
each other – be it in harvesting or building of a house. It also reminded me of
so-called Youth Work Actions, voluntary participation of thousands of youth in
major projects such as constructions of highways and railroads or working on
forestation of country’s landscape. These actions helped rebuild Yugoslavia
after the World War II but were slowly abandoned in 80’s, disappearing before
advancing capitalism (politically correct word is market economy) and growing
nationalism. In my youth days I did participate in few of those as well.
Although the work was hard I enjoyed the comradeship, solidarity, tolerance and
the sense of common purpose that I felt there.
Most of these habits, which were a part of centuries-old tradition
of this region, are almost gone by now, replaced by cold and ruthless
dog-eat-dog world of competition and selfishness. I witnessed one such example
couple of winters ago, when Sarajevo got covered by few meters of snow
overnight, but many Sarajevans could not be bothered even to clean the snow in
front of their houses and apartment buildings. It was the Turkish EUFOR
battalion which went out the first morning to clean the tram line while most
Sarajevans remained sitting idly in their warm rooms content with not having to
go to work or school and waiting for someone to free them from the snow.
Before the war people across Yugoslavia used to joke about
people from the West (including Slovenes), who seemed so alienated from each
other that spouses asked for separate bills in restaurants. Now it seems to me
that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have gone too far in adopting some of
those Western habits. Before, it was a matter of personal pride and prestige to
contribute to society and help others, while now people find delight in
cheating others and gaining as much as they can with as little effort.
Few decades ago, people cared more for their next-door
neighbors then for some of their relatives, but today most people care little
for their relatives and do not even know who their neighbors are. At the same
time we seem to care so much about Kardashians, Brandgelinas, Messies, Ronaldos
and other superficial celebrities of this shallow world. We have not only stopped
caring for people around us, but we also stopped caring for ourselves.
Today, people go to work they hate and then go home to their
families they do not know or understand. Instead of spending quality time with
families, friends or neighbors, people spend hours on social networks gathering
virtual friends who disappear as soon as the hit the “Shut down” button on
their computers. Instead of doing something to actively improve their lives and
environment and save this country from disaster, people waste their time
watching endless soap-operas, hoping and “rightfully” expecting that someone
else will come and improve their lives. At the same time those few who are
willing to work honestly and hard to improve their lives are often being
scorned and mocked by others. Defeatism and victim mentality have become the
main name of the game.
So where do I go with this blog and why is it somewhat different
from my usual political essays? Well, I got somewhat tired with writing so much
about Sejdic and Finci and this or that constitutional reform and this or that
round of negotiations that still keep hopes of few remaining optimists that a
solution will be found.
My point of the day is that if, whenever and however
Sejdic-Finci is resolved, it will change absolutely nothing in this country as
long as we do not change our views and attitudes towards our lives and bring
back some of the old traditions into this “modern” society. Prolonged failure
to adopt solution to Sejdic-Finci, a new EU coordinating mechanism or
constitutional reform of the BiH Federation are not causes but consequences of
real problems – lethargy and alienation of entire society from itself and the
country it lives in (no matter how different groups may be calling “their”
country). Political deadlocks, economic and social downturns are only
consequences our collective choices. Inefficient and corrupt politicians,
lethargic civic activists, intellectuals and media are only reflections of our
own daily habits and attitudes. We are only harvesting today what we have sown
yesterday.
We may blame the international community for its experiments
and double standards but again we are to be blamed why the international
community had to come to rule Bosnia in the first place. Plus, blaming the
international community will not help us because we cannot change the
international community. We can only change ourselves. Some of us may be
expecting from the international community to re-engage and fix our problems,
but even if it happens (which is unlikely without a new war) we will again find
a way to break and spoil those solutions and then demand new ones.
As long as we allow others to decide about our fate, we will
not be happy with that destiny. Instead of waiting for others to change and
adjust to our needs and expectations, we will have to start changing ourselves.
Instead of sitting under an apple tree and waiting for something to drop into our
lap, my family and I decided to join a harvest and pick some apples for our
friends and ourselves. Apples were delicious, so sweet and crunchy, and
friendship and camaraderie we shared with our friends made that experience so
much richer and better. Not to mention the cooked beans and home made
cakes.
Author: Srećko Latal
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