EDITORIAL    
 

Let us not Forget the Ones who have Suffered!

Only few have not forgotten the people who left their homes a year ago trying to save their lives. We were all moved then by the things that were going on around fearing that the same might happen to us. And today, being more relaxed and regarding it something long gone, we forget the people who long to return to their homes, their little paradise. Are they all prepared to return? Is everyone prepared to accept them?

Several meetings and seminars, call them whatever you like, took place last month, elaborating on these subjects. Are the coexistence and the multiethnic society possible? How were all those people feeling? Before those seminars they used to hate each other, wished all the worst for each other, and now they should build a mutual trust, “swallow” what has been said, look each other in the eyes, greet each other and what is most important, they should forgive their sins (it will be hard, but inevitable) because the coexistence is essential.
A few days ago I came back from a completely different seminar. Although we were strangers and spoke different languages, we spent that week living together, understanding each other, and the only real difference between us was our sex and age. I convinced myself that the dialogue is possible if we only believe in what we want to achieve.

The Roma people exodus is an instance showing how terrible the war is, how much sadness, grief and suffering it brings and how we should all contribute in the fight against such madness. A manifestation under the motto “Millennium of Expulsion” was held on the Day of the Roma People, which was another instance of how to contribute to it.

How many people lost their lives in the wars, how many people were left without their families and homes, expelled from their hearths. When will we stop hating each other because some of us are black, the others are white or yellow, some speak one and others another language? Should we suffer more, grieve more until we destroy everyone or until we prove the other that “WE” are right, that we are the pillars of this society and nothing can be done without us. However, let us not forget that it is hard, or to be more precise - impossible to prove that. We can only try to prove, but the other will offer thousands of arguments that he was right, and not you. So when will our people leave the world of illusions and stop building sand castles? We must realize that this society equally needs all of us. We should build a society with equal and decent conditions for all of us. The injustice that our neighbor suffers or the difficult living conditions for him mean injustice and difficulty for us, too
In the end I would add the following: our people must realize that this destiny was given to us by God and we should accept it as such, improving the living conditions and the mutual relations at the same time.

Gramoz Shabani