From Visar Zhiti
– THE CULTURE OF MEETINGS…! –
– For those ‘hearth members’ who want to meet and for those ‘hearth members’ who don’t want to meet, my friends –
Memorie.al / Meetings are culture and must absolutely be cultivated, more beneficial than non-meetings, therefore we must work in this direction so that they become truly a “hearth” of cooperation and shared achievements. Otherwise, there’s no point…!
Let us develop the culture of meetings, Pope Francis also advises. The culture of meetings. This is what I would like to say to the ‘hearth members’ now, to friends who want a new meeting with each other, as soon as possible, today, and to friends who do not want a meeting today, who consider it hasty, unnecessary, for another time…!
I speak from outside the “Vatra”, not being a member of this association, the Pan-Albanian Federation in the USA, as a citizen asked for an opinion, to say something now, when there are misunderstandings and divisions, exclusions and lawsuits, like never before.
I am one of those who love “Vatra”, have visited and cooperated with it, and have many friends among its ‘hearth members’, wishing it well, the overcoming of crises, the rise to the height of its over-a-century-long history, founded in the same year as Albania’s independence, even before its declaration, carrying precious patriotic, cultural, and human values, which it wishes to carry forward, not lose, to remain an Open Hearth for Albanians in America.
I will speak openly and simply, as much as it concerns me, hand on heart, the Albanian way. Let us start with the meeting today, which I don’t know if it will be held or not, today or another day, inside “Vatra” or outside it. Something else matters…! They must gather, I say, every group is free, even to rejoice for what has been done, and especially when it has been done well, and certainly to be concerned about what could not be done and why, especially when it has been done badly, and what to do to overcome it…!
Meetings, therefore, are a civic duty, an activity for free groups that have voluntarily united as in a large hearth, resembling the family hearth, where they are united by presence with each other and understanding, a common goal and ideal. Meetings must serve continuity and well-being, greater awareness of contributions and non-contributions, deeper understanding of issues and responsibilities that they have set for themselves for the group and the group for themselves, when they have agreed to cooperate for the good, progress, and innovations that we all need, just like tradition.
With more trust in the youth, raised and educated in the USA…! Non-meetings, even if partial and rare, rob the common “Vatra” of its meaning and content, and if something must be left for later, it is the non-meeting; that should be postponed and the meeting brought closer. Gathering together to see the situation and analyze to know what has been done and what will be done, according to the approved Statute, not its violations, nor to attack members or parts of groups.
Meeting creates trust in cooperation, non-meeting is marginalization and mistrust; meeting brings the right enthusiasm and synergy; non-meeting, on the contrary, brings lack of communication and divisions, misunderstandings, neglect of duties. With meetings, ways are found to overcome difficulties and obstacles, while non-meeting creates difficulties and itself becomes an obstacle. Together, because that’s why it was accepted to be together, etc., etc.
Such conversations, I would like to be said today with seriousness and good will, without grudges and animosities: how every fellow citizen with dedicated hearth members, I too would like to listen, about the revival and open cooperation with each other and with the citizens of our countries, with the USA and the two Albanias, as our poet, Ali Podrimja, would say, thus also with Kosovo, and wherever Albanians are, keeping “The Albanian Hearth in the USA” unharmed, as the greats founded it, side by side from the first meeting: the European Faik Konica and Monsignor Fan Noli, with Kristo Floqi and Marko Adams and Paskal Aleksi, etc., who envisioned the union of all associations and created their “Dielli” (The Sun), the newspaper, which is now the oldest of all newspapers of all diasporas in the USA.
They left us a great, wise, and sublime work, which is both identity and integrity, strength and inspiration, but also duty. This is how it reached our days. Naturally, there were contradictions, conflicts, and angers, but the ideals, the goal, the work, and the brilliant, historical achievements prevailed. Its presidents, in turn, gave of themselves and remained emblematic.
I want to single out here: Professor Arshi Pipa, who came out of Albania’s prisons and escaped from its dictatorship, with the book of sonnets in his bosom, written in prison, came to the USA, and also led “Vatra”, likewise the other escapee, the persecuted Cham poet, Bilal Xhaferri, who joined its newspaper.
Meanwhile, I want to remember with respect the other escapee from communist prisons, Professor Sami Repishti. After the end of World War II, a galaxy of patriots and distinguished ideators fled the communist regime, Frashëri, Lula, Aga, Miraka, Dine, Markagjoni, Cakra, etc., etc. It is a glorious past, seemingly unreachable. But it is also a paved road, a horizon, and an appeal.
It has had its rises and falls, and it often reminds us of what the brilliant Konica said, with a mocking smile, that Albanians only come together in dances. But as another philosopher of our times, the Frenchman André Glucksmann, says: no one has the right to impose their own good on others, but all together we must gather and say what is bad.
Times, including ours, have concerns, dangers, and wars, not only successes, prosperity, and joys. Divisions and misunderstandings hurt us, as do quarrels and marginalizations. We must be together, both as an identity and as a humane language, in their defense and in their progress. Just as America supports and leads us, who’s “Voice…” also speaks Albanian.
So that we are hand in hand as in a dance, as Konica once said, let us make the work beautiful and joyful as a dance. Even in business as in schools…! Let us start again today. So, let us love “Vatra” and its “Dielli”! Let it be protected from those backwardnesses that come from the political currents of Tirana or from its dark past. “Dielli” and “Vatra” are in the USA, institutions of value, morality, conscience, and culture. They are not anyone’s property, but everyone’s! As much of those who have left as of those who will come…! Memorie.al
