Virtue and money

The new government has no money for teachers, and it destroys half a ton of pure heroin. The former allegedly intended to sell drugs in the West, but maybe they had better ideas, like distributing heroin directly to educators, straight into their veins, so let's see how they would strike. The new ones even claim that they won't even print money, and it wouldn't even be said that they are about to go to war with someone and start looting, but on the contrary, they are looking to extinguish what is left of the war.

For years, the economy of Serbia was a pure crime, crime and lawlessness itself. A huge effort was made by all state services and authorities to kill any feeling for honest work in the people and to present robbery as the only job worthy of respect. In a country that claimed to be the last bulwark of freedom and justice in Europe, the most exemplary people were bandits. Being normal was effectively illegal and punishable. Every demolition was an expression of patriotism, and building and repairing something could only be done at one's own risk and expense.

Now, if someone is to be held accountable, I think it should first be determined whether those two are human beings at all. Then let the experts establish whether they are sane, that is, whether they had any idea what they were doing all those years. And as far as the punishment is concerned, it should be kept in mind that they are already in prison, with no prospect of ever getting out, so the real punishment would be to be forcibly released, taken out into the street and allowed to walk through the bazaar on a market day, and what remains can be done in The Hague. It would turn out like in the Middle Ages, just to the extent of their merits, but it is inconvenient that now we have to not only go to Europe, but we must not miss a century. So, nothing from the people's court.

But, regardless of their further fate, Serbia now has to rediscover how to survive in an honest way, without smuggling, theft, robbery and minting fake money. This means that the new government must first admit that it has taken over a bankrupt state and recommend that citizens draw their own conclusions from this. The state doesn't hide it, but it doesn't say it very clearly and loudly either. Perhaps teachers and professors would hesitate to go on strike so soon if someone told them that for the time being they should think of themselves mainly as volunteers, to see their work as a hobby, something that is not done for pay because if they work as were paid by Serbian education.

Teachers, like all other civil servants and workers, can, of course, tell the Government and DOS that the devil is carrying them, but they cannot tell themselves that they want Slobo, Miro and Seselj again. So they have no choice but to agree to help a country that is trying to become honest and to agree to be patient. But the government that asks the people to bear the unbearable must be very good, much better than ordinary governments in countries that are doing well and where sacrifices and sacrifices are not required. Here the ministers have to be saints and angels, otherwise the whole project of survival, recovery and reform collapses at the very beginning.

I want to say that if Germany survived the financial scandal of the former chancellor Kohl, if France calmly gets out of similar affairs, if Italy once survived despite the revelations of corruption scandals that purged the entire political elite, Serbia would not be able to survive even the slightest such an affair. The paradox is that this country is trying to transform itself and enter that world where scandals and affairs in politics are not rare, which means that Serbia has to improve a lot in order to be able to tolerate corruption, and its leaders must first be sinless and to leave the corruption scandals for later.

This does not mean that politicians are obliged to practice the cheapest demagoguery. For example, Prime Minister Đinđić does not have to ride a bicycle, or set a teacher's salary for himself, but if it turned out that he, or one of his friends, or anyone close to the top of the government suddenly doubled his wealth, or concluded some unusually favorable contract, that would could easily cause a social earthquake and blow away this very "power that has no alternative". Of course, even the leaders of DOS are not immune to human weaknesses, but now that they are asking the people to work without money, they are obliged to draw some austerity from themselves.

For now, therefore, Serbia will have to work on elan, faith, hope, love, all the very superfluous virtues in a developed world that mainly works on money. Those who would say that Serbia's wonderful advantage over the world is precisely that, may be right from St. Peter's point of view, but you must have noticed that few people want to exchange money for virtues. In any case, I have no intention of questioning here the general direction of civilization's movement from virtue to money, especially since I am not even convinced that the poor are necessarily adorned with every virtue.

The willingness of the people to suffer is currently the greatest pledge of the future and the only hope is that it will not completely melt away until the money arrives. That's why it is now unusually important that people can look at the impeccably virtuous Kostunica, which helps them endure poverty until Đinđić manages to make some money. That's how I somehow understand the division of roles in the new government, which they themselves may not be fully aware of. If these things are looked at positively, then it seems as if Koštunica brings a moral dimension to Đinđić, who does not get to deal with it, but that is why he will bring something material to that morality.

And if things went badly and upside down, addition would become subtraction, so it would seem that Koštunica is restraining Đinđić with his principles, and he is defiling him with his pragmatism.

I don't have any bad feelings yet, I just know that the worst thing is when something fails that has no alternative.