Da li Srbiji ima spasa? Zašto i kako?

Spas, od čega to?

Tražim spas od teških društvenih bolesti. To su u osnovi netolerancija, vlastoljublje, slavoljublje, koristoljublje, korupcija, bahatost, itd. One se potom prožimaju kroz šire sfere bivstvovanja, poput ekonomije, obrazovanja i zdravstva, i tako nastaju siromašni i nedovoljno obrazovani ljudi sa lošom zdravstvenom zaštitom. Ne može se posle ni očekivati da ugroženi čovek bude tolerantan i nesebičan. Sve se nalazi u začaranom krugu koji nije lako razbiti.

A da razbijemo krug, imamo 2 moguće karike. Jedna je politička, tamo gde se donose važne odluke, koja objektivno može da promeni sistem zdravstva, obrazovanja, i sl. To bi bilo idealno promeniti, ali mislim da je tu kariku teže ispraviti. Ta karika je već jednom rušena 5-tog oktobra 2000-te i nije se mnogo odmaklo nakon toga.

Druga karika je ljudska, kroz narod koji bi mogao da prevaziđe ove društvene bolesti. Na posletku, vlast je ogledalo naroda i pametan narod će birati pametnu vlast koja donosi kvalitetne odluke i postavlja ispravne sisteme. Dokaz da se ta karika može razbiti je dijaspora. Srbi normalno žive u društvima gde je sve to marginalizovano. Dakle, ljudi su prilagodljivi u dobrom okruženju, i ništa u genetici nas ne sprečava da budemo takvi. :)

Šta promeniti kod sebe?

Narod se treba preokrenuti kao jedna velika grupa. A to se radi kroz pojedince. Zavirimo u sebe kako kaže pesma ''Man in the mirror'', Majkla Džeksona:

Ako želiš poboljšati ovaj Svet, 
Zaviri u sebe i odatle kreni.

Navešću proste primere, lako ih je proširiti kroz sve oblasti:
1. Javljajte se ljudima jasno i glasno i obavezno im se nasmejte. Pozdrav je moćna stvar.
2. Propuštajte uvek pešake na prelazu, pa čak i kad su nasred ulice van prelaza ničim izazvani :) Dajte znak rukom uz prateći blagi osmeh.
3. Zahvalite se vozačima koji staju na pešačkom, bez obzira što im je to dužnost. Pokažite osmehom ili gestom ruke da cenite to što poštuju pravila i Vas kao pešake.
4. Budite ljubazni uvek za korak više od onog što je moranje. Izvinite se čoveku koji Vas u prolazu zakači ramenom (jer hej, i Vi ste onda zakačili njega). Uvek je bolje obostrano izvinjenje nego obostrana psovka!
5. Nemojte se ljutiti i svađati sa neprijatnim ljudima na ulici, šalteru, u redu. Nasmejte se i uvek budite pristojni i smireni. Možda im je samo loš dan, imaju probleme, rade svoj posao. Ne može niko da bude toliko neprijatan - koliko Vi možete biti pristojni. Nakon par pristojnih odgovora normalni ljudi će uvideti grešku i promeniti ton razgovora, možda se i izviniti ako je sreće. :)
6. Nemojte unapred osuđivati druge pre nego što se potrudite da ih dobro razumete.
7. Nemojte čitati članke sa rijalitima, starletama. Namerno, smanjite im vidljivost i uticajnost. Neka ti ljudi pišu o nečem drugom. Bez obzira što nema tuča, seksa i tračeva, otvorite zauzvrat članke o kulturi. Vidite koja predstava, film ili koncert je aktuelan i možda kupite kartu. Pročitajte knjigu koja je dobila nagradu.
Itd itd.

Ali kako promeniti okruženje?

Iako je sve ovo sitno i na prvi pogled nebitno, upravo te sitne stvari nam trebaju. Ako se par ljudi svakog dana javi obezbeđenju u banci, počeće i on da se njima ljubazno javlja. U nekom trenutku će mu kliknuti i krenuće svima da se ljubazno javlja, jer se čovek lako navikne na bolje. Tako se to širi u nezaustavljivi talas.

Kad smo već sebe promenili, nemojmo tu stati! Utičimo direktno na najbliže, pa i na sve druge gde je to moguće.
1. Terajte sve oko sebe da budu ljubazni, i da praktikuju principe ponašanja koje ste Vi usvojili.
2. Prekorite prijatelja koji se bahato parkirao ili vozi prebrzo.
3. Nemojte se voziti sa pijanim vozačem, ili još bolje, ne dozvolite mu da uopšte vozi ako ste u mogućnosti. Odbijte alkohol ako vozite, bez obzira ako neko navaljuje.
4. Širite priče o kulturnim događajima. Hvalite kvalitetne emisije poput Lekoviti show, 24 minuta ili Studio 3. Pričajte entuzijastično o pozitivnim stvarima.
5. Nemojte primati-davati ''poklončiće'' ukoliko ste u poziciji, i prekorite ljude koji to rade ili tolerišu.
6. Hvalite ljude koji kvalitetno rade. Nagradite ih komplimentom (ili bonusom ako ste šef). Zadovoljni ljudi rade bolje. Timovi sa dobrim odnosima su najproduktivniji. Lep odnos među ljudima uticaće i na ekonomiju cele zemlje.
7. Možda najbitnije: objasnite onima koji ne razumeju o politici i životu uopšte - ideje o transparentnosti, toleranciji, ekonomiji. Nesebično edukujte ljude oko sebe, i stare i mlađe, jer će kasnije to saznanje i oni drugima prenositi. Tako nastaje nezaustavljivi krug u pozitivnom smeru.

Da, spasa možda ima,...

...ali ne baš sutra, ne baš ni za dve godine. Možda za 10-20-30, ali ima. Ja već primećujem da su mlađe generacije opuštenije, sa manje opterećenja i predrasuda. I to je odlično. Ali nemojmo im samo prepustiti da odrastu. Naučimo ih pravim vrednostima.

Sunny September day in Zurich

It was a sunny day, probably one of the last this year above 25 degrees. I left Google at 6:30, went home, put on the swimsuit, washed 2 nectarines, brought a towel and headed to the lake. On the way through the park, a beautiful slow jazz soul music greeted me from a saxophone of an oldish black man. Soon thereafter, I was at the lake, laying in the Sun. All alone, I left at home my laptop, my phone, my watch, anything that would inevitably bring back the notion of the overwhelming human reality. No connection means no peer pressure, no self pressure, and also no time for often senseless wondering around the web.

I was swimming for only a couple minutes, as the water was cold, but that's already enough to bring the big smile on my face. I then stretched my arms and my neck, as my skin was slowly becoming dry on the fairly weak sunshine. I ate both nectarines during the sunset, and later on I was ready to enjoy a beer and a hamburger while sitting at a wooden table, next to the lake. There was a couple sitting with a cute kid next to me, and they spoke half time in Italian and half time in English. In the background I was able to see that some of the swimmers were still in the water.

On the way back to the car, the same Anglo-Italian couple passed by me on their bicycles. I was more looking at the trees in the park. I have never realized that those trees were so big and beautiful, and I've been there many times. Close to exiting the park, there was still the same black man, playing his saxophone and I enjoyed every second of the song. I haven't stopped to listen, but I was walking very slowly, matching the bit with every footstep, or sometimes just sliding my feet over the grass. I poured all my change into his hat and continued to walk slowly in my amazingly weird way, along with the rhythm of the music.

It can happen in the times when I am alone, and I spend time with myself, that I get reminded how much I love this life, and all those small things that I almost forgot they existed.

Serbia has some amazing people

Maybe you haven't noticed them, but they are here, smart, brave, they boldly go where no one really would in their shoes. They represent role models how everyone wants to be.

So let's start with the president Boris Tadic (within people better known as BoTa). He's shiny, always using cool bro'-type of handshake, especially with the political opponents and sportsmen. He has to be very technical, as a Psychology graduate he used to be the Minister of Telecommunications. Way to go bro! Man, I want to be the president baby, then I would never have to skip a match of football, tennis, basketball or water-polo especially when the national team is playing, I'd be an honored guest, sipping champagne, commenting the game for the news. Super job. But it ain't easy though, you gotta be an amazing dude like BoTa to do all the amazing stuff for the country to keep it blossoming like this and still have time for the games.

Then we have another amazing guy, Velimir Ilic, who was a minister of infrastructure, and a president of Serbian Athletic association at the same time. But that's really nothing special, what he really is famous for is the amount of food and drink he can intake, and the amount of impoliteness he can outburst. Truly fascinating.

Dragan Djilas, man, this guy is the mayor of the biggest and almost the only important city in the country, he is fighting for the poor, for jobs, for the green, for health, for schools, for public transport... But that just ain't enough for that omni-capable dude. He is also a president of the basketball association. Don't know if he ever played, but he certainly knows a lot about business and can transfer his knowledge and know-how, because being the mayor of Belgrade is not making him busy enough, so he has of course some time for additional activities.

One of the most important goals of our government is the fight for Kosovo, at least that's what they say. Minister Jeremic is striving to convince other countries not to recognize Kosovo. But he is doing a killer job there, so that he can also help our tennis federation work better. He's been the only candidate so far to become the president of this federation, AFAIK.

Enough? Nooo, we have so many more amazing people, just couldn't write about all of them right now. For instance Oliver Dulic, a surgeon who is the Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning. Wow! Then if you scroll back in time for last 20 years, I bet there hasn't been a board of directors in Partizan/Red Star, without a member from the political party that's in the government. Mirko Marjanovic used to be a prime minister and also an honored president of Partizan.

And I must say, I don't follow what's going on in politics a lot. If I did, I would have probably known about many more amazing people in Serbia. They represent our biggest treasure, literally.

Disclaimer: If you think I'm biased for/against a political party, that's wrong, I'm only biased towards my shorter-term-memory and limited knowledge.

Serbia & Paypal - Do we really suck that bad?

Apparently yes. And we can't get it out of our throat.

Ok, sorry for being overly picturesque but its still that bad. The first time I went abroad for more than 10 days was 2006 in the USA. Normally, I ran into a payment method that was new for me - Paypal. It was quite cool, you basically register your bank account at a trusted site and you can use the Paypal account to pay at many many sites, without entering your credit card info. Also, you can transfer money to another paypal user, etc. But if you're being able to use internet and are reading this blog, you probably have an idea how it works :)

Anyway, you are potentially not aware how many countries are included in Paypal network. I saw the list 5 years ago and I was shocked because Serbia (and Montenegro) were not included. Back then maybe it was not 190, but 170 countries, but it doesn't change anything! And it's even worse now. Just by looking at so many countries that we consider 3rd world is not shocking for me anymore because I'm now used to that fact, but that list still makes me wonder...

I'm wondering what kind of issues are there and some of them are mentioned in this text (Serbian). If you think about politicians, they should be the elite, an extremely well educated, informed and motivated group of people. They should follow the world trends and try to implement them in Serbia if they work elsewhere. They should care about the needs of the people. But the accent here is that they should. Most of them probably never heard of Paypal, they don't need it. They are using cash, envelopes... Sorry, envelopes are too small, bigger bags are more preferable. Eventually, more sophisticated ones are using bank transfer to their uncle's companies. Basically, they don't need it and they don't care if it could be useful to the other part of the population that's a little bit technically aware and willing to make some use of the Internet. They just don't care and that's it. It's been 11 years since "democratic changes". Come oooon!

I'm not gonna dwell on reasons, I'm not an expert in the economy. But I'm happy to discuss with anyone if they think there is a legitimate reason why Paypal is still not in Serbia. And it would be so hard to convince me. If so many small and large countries all over the world have it, we can have it too. If we want. If they want. If they get their share. And if someone is really waiting for motivational %($) to push more on the matter (which basically means to stop slacking off), I just hope they never get that % they are waiting for even if Paypal would never reach Serbia.

I'm still disappointed but I hope it will change one day. Not Paypal problem, its cause.

It's all the same

Only the names will change,
Every day, it seems we're wasting away.
...
I'm a cowboy on a steel horse I ride,
I'm wanted, dead or alive.

There's a shortlist of music bands whose concert I wouldn't miss if given chance. Bon Jovi belongs to the group. Song "Dead or alive" reminds me on the days I started driving my father's car, and even after that period, it's always been easy for me to find myself in this song, one way or another.

I've been to Munich a month ago, and I hadn't known that the concert was gonna be there at the same time. But when I found out they're coming to Zurich, there was no way I was gonna miss it. :)


And I haven't really been to many gigs of this size, but this is by far the best one. Needless to say that his voice was amazing and the sound system was awesome. It all made a perfect experience to me. He sang mostly their greatest hits, and there is so many of them, I don't wanna count, but, for 2h30min, there were only 2-3 songs I hadn't heard before. He was also quite cool, having fun his way with the audience. And the audience, well, it's another interesting aspect. It was all mixed up, from younger people in mid-twenties to older couples who I guess used to listen to them even 25 years ago. This is very different from Serbia, where not so many older folks would go to a rock concert.

The gig brought lots of emotions in me, not that I only singed and enjoyed great music, but whole bunch of different feelings merged in my head, from love, pride, sorrow, joy. In the end it was nothing but happiness for being able to attend such a spectacle. I was singing and dancing all along and had funky great time. One of the highlights was during the song "Superman tonight" with all these people, and especially the last person. Please make sure you watch the video to the far end. This rocks me for sure. And it's not the only one, many of their songs have very direct meaning as they're trying to influence the people to bring outside what's the best from the inside.



Organizationwide, it was perfect, high frequency of public transport, no waiting at the entrance, many places to get food/drinks. Pretty cool. What I didn't expect is to see people re-selling the tickets in front. And actually it was possible to get a good deal over there.

Here you can see the whole staduim calling them to come back to the stage with their arms in the sky. Sorry for not so good sound/video quality, but I just couldn't sneak in a decent camera. At least I can bring here some of the memorable moments and I'm sure you can get a nice feeling how it was.

Wanted - dead or alive. Sorry, you can hear one loud idiot who can't sing :) at some moments, but then - you can really feel how it all seemed to me.

Thanks for reading and
Have a nice day

Serbia in Switzerland

I've been here for a couple of months already. I'm one of them now. I am a gastarbeiter. In countries where German language is spoken, this term stands for "alien at work". In Serbian language it signifies much more than that. It stands for success, freedom, money, joy and happiness for the proud owner of the title, as well as unfulfilled dream and envy for the rest. It doesn't entirely work this way in reality, but it sells.

How? Here, one beer costs 8CHF, in Serbia 1-2CHF. For anything else, the ratio is similar, ~5 times more expensive here. Basically, showing off is peace of cake, and if you lack manners, people will see it, and eventually buy it. But it's not only lakes and mountains here. It's hard work as well. And not so much showing off.

I've heard a joke from a colleague. I made him say it, even though he was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning. "If you see a dead man on the street, how do you know he's from Yugoslavia? No traces of breaking." No matter how brutal this is, one should realize that there's no fire without a spark. And if you've got the fire burning, some winds will spread the fire all over, some winds will cool it down.

* By walking through Lausanne, we ran into a musical event - Balkan Gypsy Music. Several bands were playing, mostly Serbian, Bosnian, etc. music, the evergreen songs. There were people out there, watching, dancing, singing, not so many maybe 50-100 ppl, but it was very nice, and I really enjoyed. It was even multicultural, so an elderly Scot joined and danced his own way to our songs.

* By walking through Geneva, we ran 3 times into different groups who were doing three shell game. Needless to say, it's basically organized robbery and if you are in Serbia, you have probably learnt to stay away from such groups. I don't think that Swiss and foreign tourists are used to that. You could see 100CHF bills all over the place. So guess where these guys came from? I even heard one of them swearing "Mrš u pičku materinu".

Austria, Switzerland and Germany are synonyms for heaven to many. To me, gastarbeiters were mostly synonyms for the worst Serbian music, often low manners and political opinions that are more radical than of those who live in Serbia. Tables are turning I think, as many educated people immigrated in 90's and after. I never imagined myself in a German spoken environment, but here I am. I don't complain, I work for an amazing company in a very beautiful city in a very beautiful country. I hope to be, as the time goes by, one of many people, one of those small particles, that will together help puting out the fire that sheds some light to a better image of Serbia.

Dodji

Parni valjak - Dodji



Probably one of the best songs I have ever heard. Words so emotional, rhythm so touching. Gave my best to make it "singable" and maintain the number of syllables, and the sense, though it's not always literal translation. Didn't translate all the strophes, maybe some day when I have more time. French version sounds better IMHO. I'd really like some time to hear it from somebody who can sing. :)

fr
Viens ici,
Tout Oublie,
Je t'offre des nuits magique,
Et des reveils dans mon lit du miel.
Viens ici,
Et reste ici,
Je t'offre mes pleurs comme des perles
Mes intentions sont toujours sinceres.

J'aimerais m'endormir,
dans tes bras fragils,
Et la-bas je pourrais bien mourir.
Que le temps passe bien,
Pour moi, c'est rien,
Je deja attends toute ma vie.

eng
Come to me,
I'll be here,
I offer nights with magic,
And mornings made of sugar and of silk.
Come to me,
And stay with me,
I offer tears instead of pearls,
My plans with you
Are still the way they were.

I would gladly fall asleep,
In your arms so sweet,
And I'd never wake up from the dream,
Let the time passes by,
With this lullaby
I've been waiting for so many years.