13 January
Your Excellency President Valdas Adamkus,
President Algirdas Brazauskas,
Prime Minister,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
dear guests, relatives of the victims, dear colleagues,
Eighteen years have passed since the fatal day when the armless
Lithuanian citizens defended their state. They did so at a very high cost of
lives. The sons and daughter who perished in the aftermath deserve eternal
grace and will take their place in the national collective memory.
On this day we reflect on the core human values. One reason for this may
lie in the solemnity of the occasion. As this date in our history is marked by
death, eternal values alone seem capable of giving meaning to the human
sacrifices. The crucial lesson we learned at the time was the lesson of trust:
the trust in each other, the trust in our elected MPs, and their accountability
to the citizens. Few Lithuanians are indifferent to the future of the nation
today. Few are not raising the question as to where Lithuania is heading. Few
are undisturbed by the changes in the national spiritual realm and the new
values Lithuania seems to preach. These issues have come to the fore now that
the nation has attained its wish to be independent. With the euphoria of
freedom gone, we have to either rediscover the old or find new values so they
unite us and provide a source of spiritual comfort.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I share some ideas with you. They come from my
recent privilege of being an outsider to politics and thus are based on an
outsider’s insight. I will not reinvent the wheel: I do not have any ready-made
solutions to individual problems. We will solve them by pooling our efforts.
I will start by focusing on what we all know to be the national
feelings, civil awareness, and patriotism. According to sociologists, there are
several ways to feel part of one’s Homeland. In the spiritual realm, the innate
patriotism of individuals manifests itself through their identification with
the land they were born in, its landscape, and the customs that shaped their
character as well as with the nation and the state. This feeling does not stem
from reason or search for pragmatic benefit. Rather, it pertains to the essence
of human existence, the uniqueness of the nation and its historical fate. In
the geographical sense, on the other hand, the feelings associated with one’s
homeland boil down to the acquired citizenship, the place of residence, and
thus represent a formalised relation of an individual with the nation, the
state, and their fate. In both cases, however, the link between the homeland
and the individual manifests itself through the social relations as well as the
economic, political, and cultural life, family, education, and human
communication.
Whether we are ready to acknowledge it or not, diminishing are the
numbers of our co-citizens who have still preserved their spiritual links with
their Homeland. United and determined as we were in our fight against the
soviet occupation, for some reason we lost the impetus shortly afterwards. Why
did we give up our greatest assets: unity, self-confidence, and trust in
Lithuania? Why does an increasing part of our co-citizens join the emigration?
Some of them promise to return after better living conditions are established
here. Others feel offended and unwanted. They consider ordinary justice to have
failed them and leave homeland for good. I do not think they are solely attracted
by better conditions abroad. Rather, they feel outcasts and lack recognition at
home. Moreover, the future in Lithuania does not bode well for them or their
children due to the long stalled reforms with vague ultimate objectives ahead
in the important fields of education, healthcare, social affairs, and other
areas.
The pseudo-patriotism of the young causes concern. The words
“patriotism” and “national spirit” are often employed while desecrating the
graves of non-Lithuanians or beating up people of other races on the streets.
Why are nationality and national pride becoming as a form of aggression, used
as a tool against people of other faiths and other races? Why do high school
students keep looking at each other when they stand up to sing the national
anthem? Some of them may not know the lyrics; others seem to feel an
inexplicable feeling of shame.
I believe re-embracing the West will not save us, unless we turn out to
be creators and not imitators and consumers. Consumerism is actively shaping
our modern consciousness. However, if we follow the trend, we will end up with
the same cultural inferiority complex and devaluation of the nation’s soul our
foes had tried to instil in us for hundreds of years. As a nation we are
valuable and attractive not in our capacity to imitate others, but in our
distinct national identity, traditions, and creativity.
In the inter-war period, three institutions were responsible for laying
the foundations of the national identity in Lithuania: the family, the school,
and the army. The role of the church and its Christian values cannot be
underestimated, either. We are not rediscovering America today – our actions
are still informed by the same core values. However, education has the key role
to play in the sphere, from primary to high school. This is exactly the place
where civil awareness should be formed.
I truly appreciate the one-off charity events inviting to donate for an
individual hospital or a children’s home. Millions of litas are collected for
charity. This attests to the compassion on the part of the Lithuanian people
and their willingness to help. However, our feelings of compassion only come to
the fore on national holidays. What about our daily lives? Why do so many
children end up in hospitals, harmed by their own parents? Why do we observe
increasing numbers of children in foster homes, although their parents are
still alive? Why do some fail to provide care to their parents in old age? Are
we not facing the lack of civil awareness? Are we not turning a blind eye to
everything beyond our direct concerns?
Look at the courtyards of the high-rise buildings, the lakesides, and
the forests turned into scrapyards. We are determined to defend our private
property, yet we turn a blind eye to the immediate vicinity outside its
borders. This is not our business, we say. We consider this to be the
responsibility of the municipal government. All we can do is demand. I agree
that the local government does carry responsibility for cleaning up. And yet,
what are we doing, ladies and gentlemen, to make our courtyards, our towns, and
our forests a nice place to be in? Are we teaching our children to care about
the environment? Or are we educating them to be consumers instead and follow
the slogan “after me, the deluge!”? Unfortunately, even a competent and
responsible government with the most sensible and reasonable programmes in
place will be unable to root out the indifference, negligence, and passiveness
unless we want it rooted out ourselves and unless we devote our moral and
spiritual efforts to attain better living standards.
I encourage you, dear colleagues, Members of the Seimas, to look
Lithuania in the face and support our people not only during the electoral
campaign, but also when they need it most. The time has come. We have to hear
the voice of those who care about Lithuania, the voice emanating from a variety
of civil forums, organisations, communities, and associations. Let us not turn
a deaf ear to them, because we serve the people and this cannot be forgotten.
We have to find the way to solve the current problems and address the spiritual
low. The solution lies in gradual movement towards the maturity of the civil
society, supporting the internal powers of the community, and determination of
every individual to improve and learn to be a giver, not a taker.
It is common knowledge that any crisis implies both danger and
opportunity. The current danger will end in a year or two. Yet we now have an
opportunity to stop and think, reflect on our achievements, and consider our
failures. Let us consider whether in our urge to become global citizens we were
too fast to embrace the overwhelming globalisation process. Have we been
engulfed by excessive consumerism? Have we not misused our freedom to disperse
globally? Have we done everything to build our lives on the foundations of
spiritual culture, human self-improvement, and creativity? As soon as we have
the answers to these questions, we will answer the key question as to where
Lithuania is heading.
We often claim to have lost the feeling of unity. However, we forget
that unity is only possible when it is based on spiritual foundations. “The
spiritual values alone have to pave the way for our actions. First and foremost
we have to work, but not serve them. Thus, a living human being should be the
core value of the nation and the state”, sociologist Jonas Pranas Aleksa wrote
in his “Testament to the Lithuanian Nation” in 1951.
I do not want the relatives of January 13 victims and the people who
surrounded the Parliament and the TV tower on that fatal day to think: “This is
not the kind of Lithuania I had fought for”. Ladies and gentlemen, we were
guided by our moral incentives on that memorable day, led by our patriotism,
and acute feeling of civil awareness. Let us pool our efforts and rediscover
the eternal values we have lost for they have always helped us to boost
solidarity, unity and feel each other’s support. Our homeland is the only place
where we feel we matter to each other and to the world at large. This is our
fate. Its name is Lithuania. We will never have another homeland to cherish,
yet we can create a new Lithuania by putting our efforts together, just the way
we did eighteen years ago.
