A few disappointments and a few sparks of hope.
It is quite sad that after the historical experience we have gained as a nation during nearly forty-two years of communist rule, we are faced with a presidential election in which two former communists are facing off against each other. I even understand a little those who mask their laziness and convenience with the argument that they cannot actually choose because they do not want to give their vote to someone who, for career reasons, joined an organisation (the Communist Party, the SSM) that legitimised a regime with dictatorial stamp. Nevertheless, I prefer civic activism, and I will put a ballot paper in the ballot box with the name of the candidate I consider more learned from my own missteps. It may be a third of a century that has passed since the social and political changes in our country, but we are far from shaking off the legacy that haunts us. We can take comfort in the fact that the Germans have been working on their own destigmatisation for seventy-eight years and are still not completely out of it. We might have expected shadows to appear on the profiles of candidates for castle engagement. And they did. But perhaps the most disappointing aspect is the hateful atmosphere that permeates the public space, both controlled and spontaneous, accompanied by escalating tension, stress and depression. As if we weren't worried enough about environmental, economic and health hardships, let's throw in something else. Sparks of hope for better interpersonal relations glow perhaps only from the fact that the elections will soon be over and the simple, mind-numbing issue of seemingly objective co-determination of the fate of us all will come up again some time down the road. At a different time and hopefully in a more pleasant form.
photo: citarny.com
"