Children

We returned from the Belgrade Fair with suitcases heavy with books. Considering the "fog and moonlight" of my vision, I won't be able to do anything with those books for a year. True, I also bought some that I have, but who can resist Nikola Amaniti and his wonderful novel "As God Commands", for 199 dinars?

First, I started reading Matija's book "100 of my portraits", in which he paid tribute to his friends who are no longer there. Matija says in the song "Milovan Đilas":

I asked Milovan Djilas

Has anyone stood up to him

At the time when he was cheering and dressing

There was one

His name is Boško Đuričković

The current general

And a national hero

In the war, he commanded a unit

Which is his fault

Something seriously messed up

So I changed it

And he lamented in front of the army

I tore off his epaulettes

Medals from the chest

A five-pointed hat

Dropped everything on the ground

And rubbed it with coke

Falling into the fire

I ordered

Give me the gun

Everything you took from me

You gave it to me

And how you gave

You can also take

And no one gave me the rifle

I took it myself

And you can take it

Only through me dead

I saw it too

That he is prepared for the worst

And I got up

That I didn't even ask him for it

When I read this poem to Dr. Ljub Živković, he asked: "Are there more people like that?" I say that there are, and I tell him about the little girl whom the policemen in plainclothes, on Wednesday, October 17, at the first protest against the cutting of cypress trees and the destruction of high school circles, legitimized as if God knows what she did. I got up the courage to ask why they were legitimizing the children. They replied that they had the right because the meeting had not been announced. Her big eyes became even bigger as she calmly said, "We'll come again tomorrow, with police permission." I knew then that the Gymnasium would be defended.

"The decision to build a kindergarten in the gymnasium yard was made by those who did not attend the Bar Gymnasium or, if they were students, the Gymnasium did not remember them" - concluded my interlocutor.

* * *

And let's be clear: the kindergarten should be built, and as soon as possible, because Bar and Baran are in dire need; but in that place - no way, nor is there anything to look for any other building.

* * *

In the center of Bar, one October evening, thanks to her brave fellow citizen, a woman barely escaped with her life from rampaging stray dogs, which bit her in 20 places.

The new President of the Municipality started his mandate well, neither too soft nor too hard. His first move, when he ordered the communal workers (or asked them, anyway) to clean up the city, met with general approval. Granted, he could have avoided that kindergarten capstone. Now he should make sure that the growing problem of stray dogs is solved.

We are quite afraid of animals on two legs, we don't have to fear those on four.

* * *

Teacher Spasenija retired. It was nice to meet that gentle woman whom her students adored, just as she adored them. She was caring, responsible, professional... Always smiling. Because of people like her, the "Blažo Jokov Orlandić" Elementary School still has a good reputation. From the age of seven to sixty-three, she was in school, in the classroom. She enjoyed her work, she said it brought her a lot of pleasure. She could, by law, still work, but the moment the pleasure disappeared, she decided to leave the diary.

"Everything has changed, including the school," she just said, without bitterness, the teacher without whom this urban city school will no longer be the same. She was an old school teacher, in the best sense of those words, whose students, for the most part, became good people.

* * *

I remembered teacher Spasenia when a boy, who seemed to have just left her classroom, asked me: "Excuse me, what time is it?" - and then politely thanked me, letting me pass.

A polite child is a rarity nowadays and a feast for the soul and eyes.

* * *

In the Bar, I often look at the clock while the play is going on because I can't wait for the curtain to come down. And that, first of all, because of the average piece, but also because of the uncomfortable seats.

During the Book Fair, we watched "Claustrophobic Comedy" in the Zvezdara Theater with the ever-improving Ljubomir Bandović, and "August in the Osjeđ District" in Atelje 212, with, at the moment, perhaps the best Serbian actress, Anita Mančić, and both times we wished that the magic would last as long as possible. .

* * *

I have been playing chess only on the computer for years. On the website chesscube.com I compete with chess players from all over the world, of my caliber, up to 2150 rating points. Now I win without euphoria and lose without irritation, and once I used to send my opponent an instant message, decorated, as prof. Andrija Miranović, pearls of the Serbian language, curse words. Since Nadja was closely following everything in our house, when she heard my pounding on the keyboard, she shouted: "Mom, mom, dad lost again!"

* * *

Well, that little Nađa is now a second-year economics student in Ljubljana. Recently, while we were walking along the banks of the Ljubljanca, she wondered how bad my orientation was. That's true, but when someone leads me and I don't try to remember where I'm going. It's another matter when I have to find my way in someone else's city. Then I try to remember something.

* * *

Since this blog is dedicated to children, a few evergreens of Duško Radović are not out of place:

- We love children even when they are guilty, because life will punish them even when they are not.

- Beat your children as soon as you notice that they are starting to look like you.

- It was better for us when we were children ourselves than now that we have children. Children are rude and ungrateful.

- If you solve all your children's problems, they will have no other problems except you.

- Don't raise children if you can't. It is better to be ill-educated than ill-educated.