|
 David Albahari, writer (Serbia, Canada), 17/07/2009
|
David Albahari, a writer from Serbia, has published nine collections of short stories and eleven novels in Serbian. His books have been translated into sixteen languages. David has translated into Serbian many books by British, American, Australian and Canadian authors, including stories and novels by S.Bellow, I.B.Singer, T.Pynchon, M. Atwood, V.S.Naipaul, V.Nabokov, etc. |
When you cried last time and, if no secret, for what reason? I am a great believer in the redemptive power of tears. I also think that it is ridiculous that many societies see tears and crying as something that only women should do. Everybody should cry once in a while. Tears will help us in a stressful situation as much as in a happy situation. There is a beautiful saying by Santayana: “The young man who has not wept is a savage and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.” I myself cry often – I cry when I read in the morning papers about some terrible accident that took several lives, and I cry when I watch a sad movie or read a sad book. The last time I cried was yesterday morning while I was reading an article in the papers how people living in an area in Calgary refused to allow a methadone clinic to work in their neighborhood and threatened its doctors and nurses. I thought of all desperate men and women suffering from addiction to different substances who will be hurt by that decision – and I cried.
There are some events during our life, when it seems as there is no way out. That could be tragic circumstances or such assessment of them. At that time, what's the thing to do? There are so many tragic events in our life, and our reaction cannot always be the same. Sometimes the best thing is to do nothing: one should just sit quietly and wait until that tragic moment comes to its end. Sometimes, however, it is important to react immediately and one should waste no time. Since there is no universal solution, it seems that the most important thing is to develop one’s ability to recognize different types of tragic circumstances so that one does not lose one’s head when tragic things happen.
Could you please choose any event of last days, weeks or months, that has distressed you? It can be any happening on a local or international scale. How could you comment on it? There are so many bad news every day that it is almost impossible to choose only one. Everything that has to do with the unwillingness of people to do things that are good for our planet, both in short and long run is especially distressful for me. This planet is our home and if we don’t take good care about it, we will leave nothing to our children and even less to their children. It is a sign of our selfishness, as well as of our greed. We are so obsessed with wealth and possession of things that we have lost the ability to sense the value of the spiritual aspect of our existence. Instead of building the best possible world, we are creating the worst possible world.
There's always a new danger watching for humanity in its way, always a new temptation we're ready succumb to. What's the danger of our days? And what's the way to avoid this trap? The danger of our days is that the world financial crisis is seen as the most important thing. At the same time we are going through a serious spiritual crisis which puts additional pressure on the fragile relationship between the East and the West, and nobody seems to care. It is high time we‘ve changed our priorities. It might be true that “money makes the world go round” but it is human heart and human head that make the world what it is. We should care more about feelings and mutual understanding than about the price of oil.
What are the main obstructions to apply humanities principles at our today's life? Could they be solved? As long as our life is seen as a race in spending and owning more than your neighbors the humanities principles will not be respected. It is a simplified answer, of course, and the true answer would have to cover many levels of our society and life in general, but it would still be a good way to begin. When the sound of human heart becomes more important than the noise of money markets, we will find ourselves at the beginning of a new dawn for humankind.
|     |
| Comments: 0, would be great to get one of yours... |
 |
|
