Grand opening of a soup kitchen, can we sink any lower?

By Haris Ljevo

Yesterday, the first children's soup kitchen was opened in Lukavac, where 100 free meals will be served daily to preschool and school-aged children in need. This is a project of the altruistic association "Friends' Hands".

The "grand" ceremony, as announced by those who opened it, was attended by the Minister of Labour, Social Policy and Return of Tuzla Canton, Zoran Jovanović (SBiH), who stated that his ministry joined the project on the recommendation of the Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Fahrudin Skopljak (SDA).

- From the first day this idea was conceived, on the recommendation of our Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Fahrudin Skopljak, the Ministry of Labour, Social Policy and Return of Tuzla Canton also got involved to help this humane act see its beginning. Today, I am particularly pleased that the first children's soup kitchen in Lukavac and Tuzla Canton has started operating. I am glad that these people, in such a difficult situation, have found the strength and have the desire and will to do this and help children. In the coming period, we will have projects through which they will be able to cover a part of their financial obligations - said Minister Jovanović.

The opening of the soup kitchen with the presence of a large number of "dignitaries" best illustrates the state of our society. Organizing a grand opening for a soup kitchen as if it were the opening of at least 100 kilometers of highway or a factory that will employ so many people is a disgrace, and certainly not a reason for celebration.

If in a small town like Lukavac there is a need to open a soup kitchen for 100 children in need, we can only imagine the situation in the entire country and how many children are in such need.

The political elites in this country have brought society to a state where the opening of a soup kitchen is considered a success, and those who brought us to such a state are ceremonially putting it into operation.

While more and more people are found next to dumpsters and in soup kitchens, stories about national endangerment are becoming more frequent, because people's attention must be diverted from the real situation in society in some way.

The picture of the current state of society was perhaps best described by sociologist Esad Bajtal in one question: "Nationalists, how did you allow your nations to be hungry?"