I belong to a generation that has experienced many fundamental changes during their life. We have been quite affected by the building of socialism, as well as the attempt to give socialism have a human face.
When this failed, liberation against one's own will followed, followed by a sad and humiliating period of "normalization and consolidation" that lasted twenty years. In November 1989, we took part in the gentle revolution, and since then we have been successfully and unsuccessfully creating an environment for the emergence and development of liberal democracy.
What is the state
As if that wasn't enough, we have suffered a pandemic that occurs once every hundred years. With our proverbial luck, it couldn't really avoid us. None of us had ever experienced it, and we have all been learning on the go how to fight this invisible, unpredictable and above all insidious enemy. In this situation, there is often economic damage that affects businesses and large numbers of individuals. Most of them, reasonably, turn to the state for help.
So what exactly is the state? I am not going to give you a description from an encyclopedia or other political science manuals. Personally, I believe that the state is all of us, including children and us pensioners. Every citizen, regardless of religion, political affiliation, affiliation with non-political organizations, from fishermen to philatelists, are an irreplaceable component of the structure of a state. Recently, one of our important constitutional officials declared that Slovakia is a mafia state. He apparently meant the government, and probably only low political literacy unknowingly included us all in the mafia package. The government is, of course, also part of the state, although smaller and quite often a less successful one. After all, governments usually change after each election period, but states remain.
The greatest gift
For me, this means that if I ask for help from the state, I basically address it to all of us. I'm simply saying, "people help me, because next time, if you need it, I'll help you." It follows that we need each other. If we assert it true that giving is more pleasure than getting, it must also be true that helping will provide a greater sense of satisfaction than being helped.
The pandemic undoubtedly has a huge number of negative effects on our lives, but the fact that we need and can rely on each other is certainly not one of them. This reciprocity is not just a necessary need in the struggle for survival. This reciprocity is the greatest gift.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Milan Kňažko (born on 28th August 1945 in Horní Plachtiny) is a Slovak actor, but in the past he was also a the co-founder of the VPN and HZDS, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, the Vice Chairman of the Slovak Government and the Minister of Culture of Slovakia.
From 1970 to 1971, he was a member of the Drama Ensemble of the Theatre Studio. He played at the New Stage and was a member of the SND Drama Ensemble.
He entered politics in November 1989.
In 2016, he received the Czech Thalia Prize.
He is married for the third time and has three sons.
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