Forgiveness
Meditations from brief travels in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He who forgives is greater than he who is forgiven.
The Serbs have not forgotten their treatement at the hands of the Nazi-allied Croatian Ustashi in WW2. This is understandable, given the nature and scale of the attrocities committed. The time since is but a brief moment compared with the time elapsed since the Battle of Kosovo between Serbian lords and the Ottomans on 15 June 1389: another event that has not been forgotten.
The former Yugoslavia is where Rome and Byzantium and Islam collide: the Pope, the Patriarch and 'the Prophet.' It's interesting to reflect on the 'accidents' of history. The dissolution of the Habsburg Empire and the unification of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Axis invasion, and then (falling out of Britain's less-than-ideal alliance of convenience with Communist Russia and the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and her allies), the 'Second Yugoslavia', the socialist republic of Tito's Partisans. A Federation, but with Belgrade standing astride, very much in the centre, for geographic and historical reasons.
With the breakup of the old communist-socialist order, Serbia had an opportunity to be magnanimous, to be bigger than her old ethno-religious enemies, to forgive and to move on. To let go. Instead she chose to hang on. To deny freedoms. To fight seccession. And, in what can only be considered a terrible irony after the experiences that followed the Axis invasian of 6 April 1941, she got a National Socialist leader. Nationalsozialist. Nazi to you and me.
There followed 'ethnic cleansing,' mass murder and attrocities. Ancient score settling is surely the road to misery.
"The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:20
In eschewing forgiveness Serbia has reduced herself. It is now she who needs forgiveness. In seeking domination, and a 'Greater Serbia,' she has forfeited her dreams of greatness and now finds herself greatly reduced. An uneasy peace has settled. Slobodan Milosevic has passed on to give his account to the highest court. Will Serbia's neighbours now rise to the opportunity and be big enough to forgive her?
May refreshing showers of forgiveness descend gently on the souls of the people of the mountains and plains of the Western Balkans.
He who forgives is greater than he who is forgiven.
The Serbs have not forgotten their treatement at the hands of the Nazi-allied Croatian Ustashi in WW2. This is understandable, given the nature and scale of the attrocities committed. The time since is but a brief moment compared with the time elapsed since the Battle of Kosovo between Serbian lords and the Ottomans on 15 June 1389: another event that has not been forgotten.
The former Yugoslavia is where Rome and Byzantium and Islam collide: the Pope, the Patriarch and 'the Prophet.' It's interesting to reflect on the 'accidents' of history. The dissolution of the Habsburg Empire and the unification of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Axis invasion, and then (falling out of Britain's less-than-ideal alliance of convenience with Communist Russia and the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and her allies), the 'Second Yugoslavia', the socialist republic of Tito's Partisans. A Federation, but with Belgrade standing astride, very much in the centre, for geographic and historical reasons.
With the breakup of the old communist-socialist order, Serbia had an opportunity to be magnanimous, to be bigger than her old ethno-religious enemies, to forgive and to move on. To let go. Instead she chose to hang on. To deny freedoms. To fight seccession. And, in what can only be considered a terrible irony after the experiences that followed the Axis invasian of 6 April 1941, she got a National Socialist leader. Nationalsozialist. Nazi to you and me.
There followed 'ethnic cleansing,' mass murder and attrocities. Ancient score settling is surely the road to misery.
"The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:20
In eschewing forgiveness Serbia has reduced herself. It is now she who needs forgiveness. In seeking domination, and a 'Greater Serbia,' she has forfeited her dreams of greatness and now finds herself greatly reduced. An uneasy peace has settled. Slobodan Milosevic has passed on to give his account to the highest court. Will Serbia's neighbours now rise to the opportunity and be big enough to forgive her?
May refreshing showers of forgiveness descend gently on the souls of the people of the mountains and plains of the Western Balkans.
Labels: Serbia Yugoslavia Forgiveness
posted by SJW at 3:28 PM
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