Hamza Jaskić - A Letter To A Friend (Pismo Prijatelju - Bosanski)
My dear friend!
I’m writing you this letter in hope that, at least for a moment, your belief in а better tomorrow will be restored.
I know that when you often pass by my school, you think of us as the “others”, as different, and perhaps not understanding why.
Please, do not ever think that I look upon you differently just because your name is Milan and mine is Hamza.
Sometimes, I want to get in front of the bus which takes you to a school in Prijedor twelve kilometres away , and tell you that you are welcome to come to Kozarac, to our school, which is as much mine as it is yours..
My dad always talks about how he and your dad finished primary school together and how no one cared about the other’s name. So I ask myself why should this be different for us now.
If anyone can make this world better and more tolerant, it would be us; the children. Why should we allow anyone to be branded and expelled from our community just because he is a fan of another football league.
Why can’t we make an effort to see differences as an incentive to better get to know others who are different .
Don’t adults realize how little effort it takes to make a child smile?
I often think about the last war and wonder to myself how at how little tolerance and fore-thought was actually needed by the adults to avoid it all. e were lucky to have been born after the war, but even though we have no guilt of our own, we are still marked by the past.
I ask myself how much time must pass for people to recognise that we are all human beings, that God created us to be different, to act differently in particular situations, to behave differ-ently, to have different values, but that we ultimately have the right to live in peace with all our strengths and weaknesses; simply, to be what we are and not raise suspicion.
Dear friend, you know that us, children, can and must finally take a step toward true recon-ciliation when the older folk, those who are responsible and those who are to blame for this situation don’t want or won’t make such a move toward reconciliation.
At one point it should become clear to us that we must live together, but I am afraid that we might come to this realization too late, when the rift becomes even deeper and unbridgeable. s it so hard to add tolerance to all those other virtues which make up a good person? hy should we think that others who are different are dangerous? Couldn’t a person try to get to know other people without getting scared by their beliefs, hopes, and desires and such? If we truly understand them, we ourselves would become better.
Can’t we finally get it that diversity is a precious human treasure? raining for the football team Bratstvo [brotherhood] from Kozarac, we often travel to guest matches, where we meet our peers who are “different”, and we are not a single bit bothered by the fact that we are having a great time and truly grasp the meaning of the word tolerance. uring the games, it is far more important who is better at football and who will be the first to score a goal, rather than whose name is what.
Therefore, dear friend, if you ever wish to visit Bratstvo team stadium, come on over. Do not wait for the adults.
Come over to show the adults how little a child needs to smile and be happy, because as someone once said:
“A smile does not cost anything to the one who gives it, but means a lot to the one who is granted with it.”
Let’s show to all those who are doubtful that there is room for people of good will in this country. Let’s show the adults that all our hopes and wishes are towards a single goal – to regain joy and happiness and to put smiles on the face of every child in this country.
Finally, let us ask adults to grasp the meaning of a quote of one Indian chief from Seattle (USA) who said:
“We did not inherit this country from our grandfathers and fathers, but are granted to preserve it at the behest of our grandchildren.”
At the end, I’d like to tell you once again, that, if you ever wish to be friends, just ask the driver to stop the bus and get off in Kozarac, I’ll wait for you at the bus stop.
Yours truly,
Hamza
Pismo Prijatelju
Taxi prevoz 24h
