"Our Place in Europe"

Честита Баба Марта!



Our Place in Europe
Written By Me ;)


From the dawn of civilization peoples fought for larger lands, wealth and power, but they fought for survival, too. Some of the greatest empires rose and disappeared. They sank in the abyss of eternity and infinity. And goddess Letha covered them with her waves deeply into oblivion, however, all of them had left more or less deep traces in the history of humanity. The four empires Persian, Babylonian, Alexander Macedonian’s empire and the Roman one came into being, flourished and died and together with them thousand other little and not so little kingdoms and cultures appeared and disappeared, but also many survived. One of the most ancient cultures in Europe is the Bulgarian one, which defines its significant place on the scene of the Old Continent and in the world as one of the pillars of the human progress.
As a matter of fact the Balkan Peninsula was a place, where a lot of peoples passed and left something from their habits, customs and crafts. It was a cross- road for many nations and races and finally it was a border between two totally different worlds- the Orient and Europe, as it is nowadays. So, we possess something from both of them. Consequently our nation is a blend, a mixture of representatives from most European peoples- Thracians, Slavs, Protobulgarians, Romans, Hellenics, Celts…Our roots are so far away in the Past that very few people remember them and only the experts can explain them. That’s unique, because we unite Europe in a whole. A lot of different Barbarian, Pagan and Christian habits, traditions and customs are preserved in our style of life, our point of view and our consciousness. We’re the connection with the Past, with the ancestors, the thin, but existing thread of our destiny and life on the path towards the future. Our nation combines features, memories, the spirit of the Old. We’re the heritage of the ancestors of the Old Continent. So, our place in modern Europe should be as great as our roots are.
However, some people say that the life in Bulgaria is rubbish, the standard of living is so low that nobody knows how we survive and there is no future here. A lot of people ask themselves “Should I stay or should I go? What is my fate and where is my realization at home? Will I be a man or just a poor creature in the middle of nowhere?” And most choose to leave and earn their lives anywhere else but out of Bulgaria. They know it won’t be easier, but hope to have a kind of chance and go on all over the unknown world, leaving families, friends, relationships and roots in the quest for Luck. Just like lost souls. It’s naturally for people to have pursuit of success, but you sacrifice everything you have in the sake of the aim. But, if there is another way, here, in Bulgaria? Maybe it would be harder, but didn’t our forefathers do the same thousands of years before us? And they created a glittering history. Now it is our turn to do it. If we stay here and shape our own country, based on the ancient antique virtues- fortitude, temperance, wisdom and justice, mixed with the modern way of life and the aim of mutual success, we’ll find our important place in Europe, together with the others, but mainly here, in our country, where we and our children will live in our self- made better world. But this dream will become a true only if we, ourselves are ruled by the moral principles and united by the wisdom, inherited from the mighty khan Koubrat, who had said that the strength is in the union. In that way won’t only survived, but the time will come of our rebirth from the bottom of the disappointment like a real, magic phoenix. We’ll resurrect from the ashes stronger and ready for a new conquest, a march against the Evil. So, hundreds of years ago one of our founders advised us to unite our vividness and energy for creating our state, but we should do it here, in our homeland, where the roots of the beginning are.
Now-a-days people think that the only way of surviving and achieving success and fortune is by looking after yourself at the expense of the others, because there is a competition. But there is an other, more precious than all the treasures all over the world and it’s the clear conscience and the spirit’s beauty, the inner pureness and wealth, because we shouldn’t forget what a man of wisdom said “What we do in life, echoes in eternity”. We should be lead by the soldiers of God – honour and sympathy, not by the egoistic and hideous ambitions of surviving alone- everybody saving himself from the sinking boat called Balkan manners. If we’re led by quintessence :It’s not so important my fortune, the most important is my neighbour’s misfortune”, we’re not going to find Bulgaria’s place in Europe. Yes, not yours, hers or mine, but Bulgaria’s one. Each one of us is the face of Bulgaria and its place is our place. It depends on us only and if we understand that, we’ll reach the Promised Land, because it’s said: “Help yourself, for God help you”. The most important is to be human beings and to help each other, to care about the others, to save our souls from the filth of the cruelty and pragmatism and not to be ashamed calling us Bulgarians.
In fact, what we give Europe? The Slavonic Alphabet, the Golden Age, the Bogomil’s movement, the first elements of Renaissance- the masterpiece of Bojana church...Either we being a barrier that stopped the Turkish hordes and not in the last place we were those, who saved our Jews during the World War ІІ. We are in Europe and we have our significant place there, even if there are so many people who don’t agree.

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This essay is property of the owner of this blog
January, 2000

The following link is the original topic where we were discussing the alternatives for the yourng Bulgarians, graduating school and choosing where to go and continue their education:

http://p201.ezboard.com/fworkshopsabodefrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=1586.topic