Except that everything is more modern. work on yourself, we hear more and more often that we should to change oneself. We hear it from all sides, from those afternoon shows on television with a lot of giggling female presenters, through wise political advice from European metropolises, to our political top who tells us from the throne that it's time to - change ourselves. How much it means nothing can be seen from the reactions: some immediately talk about the destruction of our identity, others applaud the one who finally dared to tell us the necessity of our fundamental change (and must mention Archibald Rice - a well-intentioned critic who scolds us like a true parent ). So, it sounds nice and means nothing, or it means everything, which is again nothing. So I remembered a story about changing yourself that is much more concrete and, if nothing else, more fun. About how the world is changing, but also how you should change yourself.
Well, in the mid-nineties, I traveled to Montenegro officially with a charming Montenegrin. The man was a July fanatic and openly said that, while he was a member of the SKJ, he worked so much for the benefit of the state under the leadership of that then only political formation (which was not even called a party), that he had no ethical problems with being involved materially - " I guess I deserved that much." On the way to our destination, we also passed by his birthplace, a small, tame village nestled on the slopes of one of the many mountains to which that beautiful country owes its name. And he told me the following interesting and, as he insisted, authentic story.
Immediately after the outbreak of the uprising in Montenegro, in a retaliatory action, the Italians invaded the village and, following a tip-off, began to arrest the communists and their sympathizers. Most managed to escape and join the partisans, some were killed, some were wounded and captured again, and one among them, a very young boy, wounded, managed to hide in the attic of his house. After the action was over, the Italians moved on, and that boy was left alone in the attic, without help, care, or food. An elderly neighbor, respecting tradition, went to visit the wounded man and bring him some food and wine to refresh himself a little. Not because he was his ideological like-minded person, on the contrary, but out of a sense of belonging, a wounded opponent, kicked out of the machine, is no longer an opponent, and especially not an enemy. Therefore, he went to go around it and, knowing that the boy could not come down to open for him, he grabbed the doorknob without knocking to enter the house, an old, dilapidated, country house. As he energetically pulled the doorknob, it remained in his hand. He puts it in the back pocket of his pants and climbs into the attic. "God help you, hero!" - "Death to fascism, grandpa." And a neighborly, household conversation began. The grandfather looked at the wound, gave some advice, and presented him with offers. And a glass of wine, and they toasted each other and the boy got a little lively. Even though he was determined not to let his political attitude bother him, after the second grapevine, the grandfather could no longer bear it, and gently, fatherly, asked the boy what he and his friends were fighting for. And the boy begins in deadly seriousness to tell the confused grandfather about class differences, about the historical necessity of socializing the means of production, how the working class has no homeland because its interests are universal, about how the world war is actually a class war and how in the end both Germany and the Italian working class to join the world labor movement and that socialism will eventually win throughout the world.
Grandpa listens, nods his head even though he doesn't understand everything very well. Nevertheless, he recognizes in the boy the eternal story of justice, defense of the oppressed, of bravery and heroism, he also recognizes in that story Njegoš's verses "To put your foot on the neck of tyranny... That is the most sacred human duty", so he was fond of the partisans. , and especially about communists, he did not have a good opinion at all. He was impressed by that boy, especially his willingness to sacrifice himself for justice. And the boy got carried away so he doesn't stop talking, like at a rally. Finally, he caught his breath and said: "That's what we're fighting for, grandpa, to change the world." Grandpa thought it was a bit excessive: "Is the whole world?" he reached for his back pocket and pulled out the doorknob: "Yes, my father, why don't you first change the doorknob, then change the world!", he shouted and came down from the attic in disappointment.
That's how I understood my grandfather's message, said my companion with a smile. To make my class, the whole society happy, the whole world, I have to make myself happy first.
