The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed – Genetic Code Name: Unique – Bosnia and Herzegovina (Part 51)

Here on the Balkan Peninsula, almost everything has a prefix, or maybe better said, an adjective of uncertainty. From the day we are born, we learn that everything is relative, and thus uncertain. If we do not have toys, we do not need them; we simply cannot afford them because we have to pay attention to those higher priority uncertainties such as survival, groceries, a “black fund,” the permanent possibility that we will need to run away, so “that we don’t run as poor as Gypsies.”

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Clearing the snow – Kaliam

…That the history of this region is incorrect, and nobody understands it because it does not exist. For if it exists, there would be no misunderstanding…

It starts in school. Why do we need to know how many sheep there are in New Zealand or how much iron ore is dug up in Mozambique annually? Evidently, we must know about it because it is on the curriculum; and if we don’t, our future and careers are endangered. Every teacher and professor feels that their subject matter is crucial for the development of each and every one of us, and that around the first corner a challenge is waiting for us that only the comedian of life can offer:

Tuzia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Time – Damir Bosnjak

If we ever go to Ecuador, we need to know what the capital is because how could we fly on a plane if we do not know the name of the city in which we are to land; if we do not use physics – knowledge that will allow us to take better photos through the window of the plane and avoid excessive refraction of light – what would become of us?

Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegoina – Perched – Edin Hopic

And when we think of all the uncertainties that fate will offer and throw in our path, then we enter a real maze of dark, desolate corridors that, like the streets, bear various names: employment, marriage, children, career, achievement of dreams. But there is no Ariadne giving us the thread to lead us out of this maze. There are only the words of our ancestors that it is much easier for us nowadays because we do not walk 16 kilometers to school and the same distance back home, because we have never been chased by wolves across the hill, and we do not know exactly how to play. Nevertheless, everything was much more certain for them because they knew what the only certainty was – to fight.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Snow – Kaliam

And for us – we do not know how to fight. We prefer to give up, to listen and obey, and definitely not to defend (as that means we have a stance and an opinion, which is an unwanted virus today). There are those who devise trends, opinions, ideas, ideologies. It is our job to listen carefully, and to agree. We do not even have to nod our heads because this also draws attention to unnecessary mass movements. The mass should not be shifted, as this can be interpreted as a transformation from the mass into an individual.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Snow in the city – Kaliam

There is also the uncertainty of the individual – the very word “individual” means that we are separated from the crowd, and the man is a pile, belongs to the pack, some would say. Isn’t “global” the finer word? Or, say, “corporate”? Of course it is, if you ask those who come from global, corporate environments.

They teach us that the individual is a slave to tradition, which is in itself contradictory, but it sounds like a criminal act, almost like a crime.

I love the traditions of my people, but I know and respect the traditions of other surrounding nations. And I grew up with these values, where the neighbor is respected; and in order to respect others, we must not speak about our ancestors’ tradition. Not to offend someone.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Flea market – Amir Bajrich

This phenomenon is really worth a deeper analysis because the thought is spreading, the impression that it would be easiest to preserve our tradition if we respected someone else’s and did not speak a word of our own.

We insult by valuing what is ours.

It is certain that we are better off somewhere else, and that the stranger’s uncertainty is unknown to us, completely unidentified in the online posts of celebrities.

Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina – At church – GoneWithTheWind

Regarded from a moral point of view, we have a duty towards others, and we will fulfill it by being one of them. Not like them, because it is impossible. Children cannot be like their parents; they have to be their own parents. We look upon the stars of reality shows, the celebrities, and the hardworking presidents whose primary task is to give in.

So we do it too. We let go. Like an old dam in front of certainty where the attacks are getting stronger, more and more demanding. And the old concrete blocks are cracking, one by one, and we have no means to stop this wave. Maybe we should stop and think about it, maybe we will find a solution?

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – At the crosswalk – Kaliam

No, thinking usually leads to disagreement with the crowd, and this is immediately a conflict. There were too many conflicts in the Balkans. Why don’t we all just go away? All of us suddenly leap aside together so that nobody gets hurt while we dismantle the dam?

That is one solution.

In a Utopian world, the second solution would be to let the river run its natural course. I do not know why we stopped it in the first place? Natural currents are more in touch with nature, better than artificial flows created by man in order to benefit.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Snowfall – Kaliam

From all this it follows that the individual is uncertainty. On Easter Island, in Greenland and in the Balkans. It is not necessary. If I am an individual, it means that I think with my head. Maybe I’m just stubborn? Maybe I cannot think as a group, or at least not fast enough, so I’m falling behind the group? Or have I lost the compass, I can’t find my way in this jungle of trends, but is it safer for me to stay in my cave? I do not understand the language in which someone says “Jump,” or am I blind to follow the road drawn with a child’s hand? I’m aggressive and uncivilized because I just want to save what I have, without touching the other, and my intolerance is expressed by not wanting to replace what I have with what you have. And they have.

I do not think there is any uncertainty. There is just not accepting certainty.

Aleksandar Skobic

Credits

Photo 1: Bosnia and Herzegovina – In the mountains – 2 – Fedja Krvavac (Shutterstock)

Photo 2: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Clearing the snow – Kaliam (Shutterstock)

Photo 3: Tuzia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Time – Damir Bosnjak (Unsplash)

Photo 4: Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegoina – Perched – Edin Hopic (Unsplash)

Photo 5: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Snow – Kaliam (Shutterstock)

Photo 6: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Snow in the city – Kaliam (Shutterstock)

Photo 7: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Flea market – Amir Bajrich (Shutterstock)

Photo 8: Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina – At church – GoneWithTheWind (Shutterstock)

Photo 9: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – At the crosswalk – Kaliam (Shutterstock)