EDIN URJAN KUKAVICA Parental Attention

By Edin Urjan Kukavica

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A thoughtful and precisely timed decision, just one inflammatory, brazen, and insolent statement, and a single planned or agreed-upon move that will not be implemented... a few meetings "at the highest level" and everything else is forgotten: all previous denials and disrespects of Constitutional Court rulings, all unenforced judgments from the Strasbourg court, and all committed but unpunished crimes, and all tenders, all integrations, enormous salaries of elected representatives and deputies, increases and adjustments of salaries with who-knows-what, secret and public price hikes, excessively high prices and a consumer basket that three average salaries, let alone pensions, cannot fill... sick children and doctors who do not treat them, road killers, migrants "at traffic lights," and those at bus stations are forgotten, Sejdić and Finci are not even considered, and those who set out to buy a one-way ticket to Germany quicken their pace! ...and those who stay will sigh with relief: "As long as there's no shooting!"

The three of them achieved what they wanted: one feels a bit like a man again, the second is once again the biggest brute among brutes, the third has received another opportunity to confirm his reputation as a scoundrel and hypocrite. Those around them received a 20% salary increase, elected officials will calmly receive their 7000 marks for another year and a half without anyone asking them "did you earn it?", they will dismiss whom they need to dismiss and appoint whom they need to appoint, severance pay will be disbursed, new loans will be taken, previous debts will be reprogrammed, new ones planned, the statement "This is a political fight, people have nothing to fear" will compete for the biggest idiocy, at least in this mandate of idiots, and the continuation: "This will take a little longer..." will compel all those who were about to buy a ticket to Germany to avoid killers at the wheel, risk their own lives crossing the street even on a red light and join the queue at the consulate or embassy before those who stayed to wait for the green light... and those who stay will sigh with relief: "As long as there's no shooting!"

Wise-at-all-costs individuals will tell terrible stories on their profiles with tastelessly used parables and, solemnly opening a polygon for (self)castration, prove that writing is not for everyone. In the meantime, anonymous internet warriors will embark on another campaign against everyone and everything that does not think like them, carefully avoiding minefields of cultural and other positive events, the bravest among them, protected by "nicks," will dare to condemn all good things to non-recognition, non-acknowledgment, neglect, being swept under the rug, pushed aside, and complete silence... Facebook will "explode" with posts from idiots who "are not tired" of shooting – until it actually starts shooting – and then they would be the first to use diplomatic passports and diplomatic mail to shoot "across the border" and from there, either as loyal representatives of their peoples, cheer for their own, or, like newly minted reasonable Europeans, express disgust at the savagery and barbarism of backward Balkan people, who, evidently, make no sense to invite to reason and conversation... They would be followed by those who woke up an hour earlier to be the first in line at any consulate or embassy while they are still open, checking border crossing status online from the queue and booking seats on planes flying anywhere, even if just to get the children away (they can wait a little too)... and those who stay will sigh with relief: "It's good... there's no shooting here yet."

As usual, concerned, high-ranking, feminized representatives of the international community will express their concern for the umpteenth time, ambassadors representing the "Quinta," "Sexta," "Septa" (I don't know what "Octa" is in Latin) will announce a meeting at the Presidency, PIC member states will unsuccessfully try to harmonize their opinions, the High Representative will coincidentally be on vacation in his hometown or will elaborate before the Security Council how and how many times he has already expressed his concern that the citizens of BiH are not concerned... other foreign officials will receive hazard pay supplements for working in risky or directly war-threatened areas and will celebrate this year's bonus for what they have (not) done in select and safe restaurants... there will no longer be queues at consulates and embassies, and those who have remained here will have neither the time nor the words to say anything.

This is, in short, the scenario for the opening scenes of the horror film whose premiere we watched about thirty years ago, and whose rerun is increasingly and more intensely threatened. How many times we will watch it and how often depends solely on us, but we certainly will until we realize that the fundamental, central, and crowning problem of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not political but ethical, and that ultimate patriotism is to (pro)tect the country from its rulers.