A bloody history class in Belgrade. A tragedy that stunned the region and leaves no room for indifference. Lives tragically lost and darkness, following a massacre in an elementary school.
The perpetrator, a 14-year-old, an excellent student in 7th grade, according to reports from Serbian media, was mocked and a victim of bullying, and carried out the horrifying act after precisely planning it a month in advance.
The damage is already done, the compass is lost. There is no justification, but the problem is concrete.
The problem has many layers, is deep, and the responsibility is ours, not someone else’s.
Parents or guardians, immediate and extended family, educational institutions, institutions, system, media… All actors in society have forgotten their children, or if more accurate: they ignore them, forgetting that they are the future, and the future is built now, from the earliest age.
We have left children on their own and with the far from naive toys of the new era. We don’t talk, don’t answer their questions meaningfully, increasingly reduce the time for them in favor of “adult problems,” and consciously allow “role models” to be sought in superficial figures. All of this has carried on through decades, tectonically shifting values, dehumanizing, spiritually emptying them, draining their childhood and the humanity of adults.
Form restrains substance.
And now, for a moment, this tragedy will open for us the questions that should hang over our heads daily, as prevention, not consequence:
How was your day at school? Did someone’s action, word, or gesture hurt you? Did you hurt or insult anyone? Why, if something like that happened? How are you? Do you want to talk? How are your friends? Do you support each other despite all differences? Differences should connect you, not divide you. You are the most important, work can wait. Come, let me hug you. Good night. Tomorrow is a new, better day. Everything will be fine, no matter what!
Words and actions can be both poison and cure!
Children need our attention, space, time, and love!
Be careful with children / Seriously, pay full attention to children. They feel more than you can imagine. They may not always know how to express emotion, but deep inside it accumulates – both good and bad. Emotions can bring out the best, but also the worst in them.
Return to children with your full presence. Time has long been not on our side!