Yesterday, while nestled in the lap of a steel bird, I rode through white puffy clouds. The flight lasted an hour, just long enough to consider life in general from a somewhat rarer and higher perspective.
It is difficult to recognize exactly where I am from a thousand meters high, but I have flown over, it seems, all the cities and places where I used to live. Belgrade was much different in the morning; it was busy, dull, and occasionally wet, but the air was thick, as if you had to strain the air through your teeth to breathe.
A seemingly ordinary day.
I chose to take public transportation to the airport rather than hail a cab, and my companions would change as the bus pulled into the station each time; people would come and go.
I don't know them, they don't know me - perfect strangers.
While I was on the move, every parent's worst nightmare was unfolding in an elementary school a few kilometers from my old neighborhood where I used to live.
When did all this happen?
At what point did society fail to such an extent that safety as such absolutely does not exist, not even in schools where thousands of children are sent from their homes every morning, five days a week to work on themselves, build their future, discover innovations of the world.
At what point did what was once considered the safest cradle turn into a massacre.
Due to the circumstances, I didn't have internet most of the time, so I found out the first information's before boarding.
He appears to be a typical little boy; there is nothing odd about him, no indication of anger, and no indication that a boy of 13 may suddenly transform into the cruelest monster.
He had a list of the names of the victims, the entire strategy, the timing, and an alternative strategy—four Molotov bombs placed in a backpack instead of books.
He called the police on his own after what he did.
Who to blame?
In my country, peer violence is not treated in the way it should be, that segment when teenagers are in their most vulnerable period is not being addressed today.
Neither parents, nor society, nor school, nor institutions.
We're all to blame!
The father who kept the weapon within reach of the child (despite claiming it was locked under the safe code), school psychologists who sit idly in their offices waiting for their working hours to end, teachers who have become opportunists and teach children based on how much their parents earn.
Even when I was growing up, there was peer violence, and I myself was a victim of it, and most often the victims were children of the introverted type, there were also fights, tears, but no one ever hurt anyone - physically.
Cell phones, self-proclaimed influencers, social media, reality shows, violence in lyrics, subtle slurs, aggressive video games, movies and cartoons that are helplessly marketed to the public, class differences, discrimination of everything that does not belong to the ideals of today and what is considered success as imposed I could go on and on with what is wrong...
He said he was unnoticed by his peers, rejected and that not enough time was devoted to it. His parents are described as successful people in their careers, his dad took him to the shooting range and there he learned the sweet little secrets of cold weapons.
Each of you will be asked the first question, what is the child looking for in the shooting range?
Welcome to the Balkans, my dears, where the slogan YOU ARE A MAN is still valid, you are not allowed to cry, show weakness, show emotions, and if you insist on leaving the framework of patriarchy, you will surely get the epithet of weaklings (read pussy).
Right after the milk, you will taste the famous bitter liquid called beer, because men drink beer, and sodas are for girls. You will serve in the army, you will be the head of the house because that is expected of you, no one asked you if you want the same, it is yours to humbly listen and fulfill the wishes of the generations that brought this world more sadness than happiness.
Three days of mourning were declared yesterday, 3333 days wouldn't help to forget this terrible event.
Nothing and no one will be the same again.
Rest in peace, I hope you are in a brighter and better place, darkness has long since reigned here.