Mijatović: Are you sorry, Banja Luka, the great Đole is gone, I am!

(Patria) - There have been many reactions and farewells to Đorđe Balašević, the singer-songwriter who passed away today. Vojin Mijatović, vice-president of the SDP, began his status with the words 'we are all woven from feelings, both those of us who show it in our own way and all those who keep it inside'.

"They say it is better to express what you feel, that way you free yourself, you relieve yourself. I have lived my whole life by feeling, often paying the price for it, but somehow with pleasure, without second-guessing, without remorse, I am clean before myself and the people, that is who I am, so whoever likes it, likes it, whoever does not, does not have to listen or watch.

Well, today is a strange day, a strange set of circumstances, conversations, feelings, thoughts, one of those days in life that are hard to describe and define. And just this afternoon I am returning from Sarajevo towards Banja Luka, driving slowly the whole way, thinking, analysing, planning. The journey passes in thought, I suppose when a man reaches his 40s he can look back and think carefully about where to go forward. Those are probably the years when, if nothing else, you know what you do not want.

I come home, unpack my things, go out to walk my dog, and at the entrance to the building I meet a priest. He was going around the apartments to bless the homes and give a blessing to families of the Orthodox faith. The same priest has been coming for years, always calm, smiling, a pleasant man, just as a clergyman should be. He brings a certain peace even to me, who, hand on heart, is not much of a believer.

After he finished blessing the home, I asked him to sit down for coffee, juice, water, which he accepted and said: "I would very much like to, and I want to ask you something."

Of course, I said, Father, ask whatever interests you. The priest says, tell me, you are Vojin Mijatović, you are SDP, I confirm it. The next question: "Have you heard, Balašević died," I am in shock. The priest continues, "he is the greatest singer-songwriter, every one of his songs evokes a special emotion," I confirm this, still in shock, he continues, "but let me ask you, why did Balašević hate Serbs so much?" I fall into another shock, I cannot believe what the man is saying. I ask him, and why did Balašević hate Serbs? I get no answer. The priest stands up and says, I watched you the other night on Senad Hadžifejzović's show, you are right about everything, but others must also accept responsibility, Serbs are not a genocidal people. I confirm this and say, of course they are not, and everyone should accept their responsibility, but genocide was committed, that is a fact, I get no answer. The priest leaves, thanks me for the hospitality and says, may dear God protect us. I said to him, Father, when we become good people, then dear God will protect us. The priest left without an answer.

I sit down, quite in shock, play Đole's song DUET, which he wrote for Kemal Monteno, and plunge into deep thought, as the notes go one by one, tears flow on their own, and in my head there are a thousand thoughts.

A priest, certainly a good man because I do not want to think otherwise of him, says you are Vojin Mijatović, you are SDP, Balašević hated Serbs. When I translate all that, Balašević, although the greatest, is a traitor, I am a traitor, and that is what the priest says. That priest today surely entered a hundred apartments in Banja Luka and repeated the same thing.

And Đole's Duet continues, softly, the master hums to Kemi, right through his neighbourhood, grief for his friend, for a giant, an epitaph to music, one of the greatest, I think to myself, how could anyone think that this man was capable of hating, especially his own people.

The same thoughts hold me and I go on, does the priest think that Đole hated Serbs when in Sarajevo at a concert he said, "if they held you at gunpoint for 5 years, then they can hold me for 2 days." So dear Father, where is the hatred there, what is the evil there, but I will tell you, maybe you will read this sometime, the evil is that after that Balašević was threatened, that he never again came to his Banja Luka from his army days, but not because he hated, but because he was a man and he loved.

Well, Father, today the greatest artist has left, now as I write, his final journey is mourned by the entire former country, but because he loved, not because he hated. What I hope, Father, is that what you said about him, and conveyed to me, is your current blindness, I hope that at least to your children you will tell a different story, because only small people can hate, Father, great people only know how to love.

I love you, my Banja Luka, more than anything, but what I am writing today happens every day, and unfortunately today the great Đole left, are you sorry, Banja Luka, that he did not stop by one more time, I am!!!", wrote Mijatović.