‘’Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark-spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It’s passing, yet I’m the one who’s doing all the moving. ‘’ – Martin Amis.
Time… For me one of the most important things in life. While still in school we learn about human evolution, the origin of man, the development of civilization, modern society… Our parents teach us to tell the time even before we start school. Tick-tack, tick-tack, the clock is ticking. Time is passing by. There are so many thoughts running through my head. We live in a much faster paced world than our ancestors did. Do our responsibilities considerably increase every day? Are we far more responsible to think fast, to make our own decisions, to learn the lessons from the past? Is it high time we became well aware of the fact that we will not be young forever? If our time is limited, where are we now? I could ask myself a million questions that probably no one could answer.
,, The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while. ‘’– Albert Einstein
Was Albert Einstein right? Let us try to be rare ones, wise and powerful. Those who are in charge of our future must be very powerful. Yet, how can we be sure that they are wise enough to change it for the better? The answer is simple – we have to believe! The future belongs to those whose believe in the beauty of their dreams. Power, no matter whether it is inherited or gained, changes our view of the world. It changes society, the way of thinking…We don’t have much time left. We have to do something.
“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.” – Robert Schuller
While we are thinking what to do, the world is changing. Others rule our lives. We are just watching them silently. It is not the role I was born to play. It is up to us to make a decision who we want to be and what our future would be like.
All the youth of the world can agree on the basic principles that should be consisted in our future. I know it is not realistic to expect everyone to have an ideal childhood filled with physical and spiritual care, but I also know that all the wars of today could be stopped only if we were less selfish, if we replaced animal instincts with common sense and tolerance. How can we let so many people starve to death all over the world knowing the fact that so much food is wasted every day? We need more understanding, more tolerance and less selfishness.
All the conflicts of the world can be overcome by peaceful means. Can any goal be more important than a human life? Who has the right to take someone’s life away? All we want is peace. We do not want history to repeat itself.
Any change must start with an individual. All revolutions, all the movements, all battles had a prominent figure, had a leader, an initiator. If we want to change something in our environment, we always have to start with ourselves. We have to change first. Then we can move on to a narrow society and local communities. That way we could be a team which could influence the higher levels of society. Public opinion and awareness must be influenced every day if we want to change certain prejudices, habits and discrimination. If you as an individual can not contribute to society, then you should not hinder at least. Are we satisfied with the current situation? Why are we facing youth „brain drain“ from the region? I think it is high time for us to take action, to take some important steps. Firstly it is necessary for us to realize that the regional cooperation is very important. When united, we can make progress much faster. The whole world, not just Europe, seeks global unification, simplification of all systems, a unique educational system, open market. Yet, the Balkans has so much diversity. Are we so specific that we do not see the benefits and advantages of a global merging, or are we just too stubborn to give in to some simple steps?
Let’s create a vision. Each of us should have it. We should all agree on it. That vision will be our cynosure. It will lead us to a better and safer future every day. We need to broaden our horizons, to strive for long-term goals. Ignore everyday petty interests which draw our attention from much larger ones which are far more difficult to reach, but far more important. It is not uncommon for people to be blinded by those petty interests. We are just not aware of the fact that we are misled by them, that those petty interests make the ultimate goal ever farther from us – the one that can be reached a little harder.
I think it is about time for us to realize that in most cases politicians use nationalism and hate speech to draw people’s attention from very important issues which concern them most, which concern “ordinary people” who are not interested in stories about conspiracy theories and who do not believe that anybody’s goal is to deceive them. They just want security, jobs, better health care, free and high-quality education, the opportunity to send their students to study at prestigious universities abroad. They want their country to provide normal working conditions and jobs for them after their studies. That is not too much they ask for, but they are usually denied. It’s time to start the reforms. The aim of joining the European Union is not the European Union itself, nor the visa liberalization and freedom of movement, but it is also all the reforms that are a condition of accession to the European Union. These reforms will promote the best values, quality, possibilities…
We are facing a moral crisis in society from day to day. Corruption, malversation, nepotism, abuse of power, are the things that cause serious problems in society, ranging from violence, juvenile delinquency, to all the others. In the future we will have to pay more attention to the role of the family as the basis which will create new pillars of society. The family is the foundation from which we further expand. Later on, the role of society appears, but we can choose our society, but not the family.
We need media to support the changes in society. Media shape public opinion and attitude. We live in an era of mass media which drives, run and destroy societies. Media freedom must be guaranteed, but I also believe that there should be some frames and limits that media should not step over. We need a broader social action to finally put positive things, stories, heroes in the right places in the media, not just the bad news on the front page. Putting criminals or hooligans in the spotlight promotes violence which undermines the normal development of an individual. They serve as role models for younger generations…
I believe in this society, I believe in changes. I want to believe, because when we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion then we truly live life. The meaning of life is in optimism, in faith that has managed to run society for centuries in the most difficult moments of the history of civilization. Finally, the clock is ticking…It strikes ‘high time’.
‘’When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.’’- Charles Beard
