Ahmed Imamović, Assistant at American Earlham College: A Message to Pupils and Students in BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Study and learn for the sake of knowledge, not for diplomas and titles, said Ahmed Imamović, a physics student and assistant at the American Earlham College during his address at Vijećnica on the occasion of March 1st - Independence Day.   

A reception on the occasion of March 1st at Vijećnica was organized by the Canton of Sarajevo, the City of Sarajevo, and the Forum of Parliamentarians of BiH 1990, whose president is Miro Lazović.

We are publishing Imamović's address in full: 

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, dear citizens, 

I am proud and grateful for the opportunity and honor to address you on the occasion of the celebration of BiH Independence Day.

We must remember the events of the nineties, which followed the re-establishment of our country's independence, and preserve and wisely use that memory.

For me, the events of the nineties are like road signs on our path to the future. We don't look at them much, but we see them clearly. They tell us where we can turn, where we cannot, where there is danger, where there is a landslide, where the road is slippery, where there is wildlife on the road. We don't talk about them much, but they are always present. If we respect them, they orient us, warn us, and protect us. If we allow someone to remove the road signs from our path, we will experience an accident on that road again.

As a high school student, I spent some time in Cambodia. There I taught mathematics and English to poor children, in the poorest rural part. At the same time, in my school in Hong Kong, I had friends who had personal cars and drivers.

Confronting these extremes, from a Cambodian school without electricity and water to the super-modern districts of Hong Kong and American metropolises, I always wondered where our country stands on that scale. In which direction is it going, what are the obstacles ahead of it, what are the traps on that path. What is necessary to do, what brings long-term success. What must my generation do to achieve it. In those reflections, I drew some conclusions for myself. That is why I would like to send a few very personal messages to my generation and those younger than me. 

Dear pupils, dear fellow students, 
Be brave. Be stronger than the pessimism that dominates here. Bosnia and Herzegovina has great opportunities and a good perspective. The opportunity lies within you. Study and learn for the sake of knowledge, not for diplomas and titles.
Unite, build your networks, enter important circles. But under no circumstances do so if your motive is personal gain. In the end, you will lose, and your circles will fall apart.

Each of you has something positive to offer others.

If your motive is to contribute, wherever you go, you will do a great thing, and personal gain will follow as a consequence.

Many of you will have the opportunity in the foreseeable future to take or accept important positions, mandates, functions. Talk to yourself before that. And if you do not have a clear idea and a precise plan, do not take on functions, because you will ultimately destroy yourself, the institution, and society as a whole. But if you have an idea and a plan, the positions belong to you, and fight persistently and patiently to take them and realize your ideas.

This is how powerful circles are built, this is how strong institutions are established, the state is strengthened, and a strong society is created. This is how independence is preserved.

Do not be pessimists. Our generation has no right to pessimism. Pessimism disarms us and makes us powerless. The changes we all want will come. We will return Bosnia and Herzegovina to its natural state. These processes will begin. They do not require a “critical mass” as we often hear. At the right moment and in a favorable context, sometimes even one person is enough. And I am sure that there are at least a thousand such people in our generation. In my field, I try, I learn, and I work, and I strive to be one of those thousand in that way. 

And finally, I want to tell you: When I was leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina to study abroad, I was sent off with the words: “Remember, wherever we are, in the world or at home, Bosnia and Herzegovina is our birth certificate, and we are its identity card. Let us proudly show this birth certificate and do everything we can for Bosnia and Herzegovina to proudly show its identity card.”

I have seen that this is true, and that sentence will stay with me my whole life.

Happy Independence Day!”

Ahmed Imamović is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian physics student and assistant at the American Earlham College. He was born in 1998 in Bihać. He completed elementary school and the first two years of high school in Bihać. He continued his education at UWC College in Hong Kong, where he was one of the top students. He mastered the Chinese language and script. As a high school student, he spent some time in Cambodia, where he taught mathematics and English at a school in the poorest rural part of Cambodia. He continued his education in America. Of several scholarships offered, he accepted a scholarship from Earlham College. At the end of his first year of study, he became an assistant, and in his second year, he had his first presentation at a scientific symposium in San Francisco in the field of biophysics.