| Stress | Dusan Velickovic |
DAYS OF BOMBARDEMENT AND MARTIAL LAW IN BELGRADE: true stories |
Stress
is a word frequently heard in Belgrade. Everybody has his or her own stress. Somebody lost
his immunity because of stress, and because of this caught a cold; somebody aborted a
baby; somebody just died all of a sudden. All because of stress. Pensioners are stressed
out, and children too. One of the parameters for measuring the collective stress is the
huge quantity of sedatives sold in this country.
It is not known when, exactly, this stress became pandemic. Maybe it was 1991 or 1992. The brief war in Slovenia, the demolition of Vukovar, the bombardment of Dubrovnik, the siege of Sarajevo, the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the waves of refugees flooding in, and the hunt for reservists and military conscripts. Or maybe it was the hyperinflation and the sanctions. There are many social and political reasons for stress, and there are very few answers about the causes of individual destinies.
The announcement that bombardment will happen – just the announcement itself – creates a new moment in the history of stress in Belgrade. Today is a day of acute pre-stress condition.
One physician recommends: "Press the palm of your hand on the top of your head, and try to move the skin of your scalp hither and thither. If the scalp moves easily, it means that you are still resisting stress well. But if the skin is tight and unmoving, then you are in a serious situation."
I like this advice. There is no feigned amazement in it at the hugely unfair fate which picks on us alone, and no blabbing about work as therapy to alleviate stress. It’s a simple thing: place a hand on your head, and you will realize that in a tyranny, it is much more difficult to think, than to act, because "you are never more active than when you are doing nothing, and you are never less alone than when you are by yourself."
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