Whenever I think about my homeland, my first thoughts aren’t about how crappy the socio-political situation is, I don’t think how I should move out, because there’s no real future here and how my fellow Slovenians are severely introverted drunkards with no future (these are the things I hear people complain about most often). And I do agree for the most part- I don’t judge people as general drunkards though.
BUT!
My country is my home. I live in a small place, sure, but it’s lovely. With only a few hour’s drive I am able to visit the plains of Prekmurje, then just a few hours later I can go swimming in the sea. I can go hiking in the Alps and visit the caves of Postojna. It’s all compactly packed in one chicken-shaped little package.
I love my little microcosms, too. I live surrounded by forests and get to breathe fresh air. I get to see plants grow in our garden and hear birds chirping when I sit outside early in the morning. All of those things is what make my country great.
Sure, we have our problems. They’re not even little problems: huge political problems, corruption, crappy law and judicial system, high unemployment rates … don’t get me started. I sometimes see the injustices, sometimes feel them on my skin, but I’ll never say I’m not proud to call myself a Slovenian. I know, see and believe that we (can) surpass whatever our strugles are.
I love my language. I know I write my thoughts here in English, but that has nothing to do with how I feel about the land that raised me. I love the land; even if I disagree with some aspects of how things are done or ghow they currently stand. We’ve come so far and have lived under bigger countries for so long. Now that we’ve chosen to live independently and have done so for 20+ years, some of us fail to see how young we still are and how much we have to learn and how much garbage there still remains to be cleaned out.
We’re good people. We’re generous, we’re hard workers and we know how to pull together when we need to. We still have to learn how and when to raise our voices and not be afraid, but we’ll get there. I now we will.
I am lucky to live where I live. I feel safe in my country. I know there are many people that can’t say the same.
I somehow feel like a lot of us have forgotten what the word homeland means and globalisation has erased some of the love that was once deeply integrated into our lives. I like to read about our history and how we have had to fight for our country, for our language and our unity. We have managed to do so for many years and I hope our children will see our countries (no matter where we come from) as places worth fighting for.