"Stay in Slovakia or Is It Time to Leave?"
This is a question that has been weighing heavily on my mind over the last few months. I’m 41 years old, and I feel like my artistic career has started to shift to the next level over the last year and a half. I have over 50 releases on my Bandcamp, two books, I record guitars for world-renowned musicians, I've received nearly all the Slovak awards and nominations, and I’m currently working on one of the biggest film projects in our country – the films MIKI and ČERNÁK. My project KOMARA was listed among the top albums of the year in thirteen countries worldwide.
On one hand, I tell myself that all of this is amazing and I never imagined achieving something like this. However, I’m not the kind of person who sits at home waiting for an opportunity. I am intensely working on my musical language, analyzing the work of masters, studying, and most importantly, traveling a lot. I play with musicians who are better than me, and at the same time, I learn from them. On the other hand, I’ve always believed that talent, hard work, and consistency must bring results. I believe that even today. However, it’s a long, challenging journey full of obstacles, but it’s not a utopia. From the world’s perspective, these are small problems, but from an individual’s perspective, they represent the meaning of life. I managed to do everything from home in Prešov.
I must say that life and work in Slovakia are good for me. I have my family here, life is relatively cheap, and I know the airports in Krakow and Budapest by heart. Slovakia is a small and beautiful country. I love bringing musicians from the USA, Norway, Italy, and France here. My Italian friends already know our country quite well. They know the restaurants along the route from Bratislava to Prešov, the gas stations, the Tatras, and even know a few Slovak phrases. This makes me very happy. Of course, I visit Italy at least once a year to get to know their country in return. It’s amazing that today we can travel freely and explore the world and cultures of other countries. I find it extremely enriching and inspiring.
At the same time, I consider it very important to step out of our bubble and worldview. I realize that my problems are not the biggest in the world, and my way of life might not be the only right one.
What has started to trouble me in the last year is the situation in Slovakia. I feel like we are cursed in some way. We take a few steps forward, and then we fall back. I don’t understand why. I don’t know whether it’s rooted in our DNA or if it’s leftover from socialism. I have no answer. I know many people my age who practically didn’t live in communism – we were only six when the revolution happened. But when I see how they behave on social media, I am shocked. I receive hateful messages regarding the film MIKI. Some even block me on Facebook. Their aggression in discussions and forums is alarming. I don’t understand where it’s coming from. Is it frustration? An inner problem?
Times today are very fast. Trends push us into the idea that everyone must be athletic, successful, wealthy, and popular. Maybe it’s this pressure that makes people feel inferior. But being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean being rich or famous.
What troubles me the most is the shift away from values I’ve always believed in. I thought, and still think, that talent, hard work, and consistency should eventually bear fruit, and that society would appreciate such people. I’m not just talking about artists, but anyone in any field. However, this is not the case today. Artists in Slovakia are often labeled as liberals, who “somehow got what they achieved.” Now, it’s “the time for the others.”
We live in an internal world that increasingly deviates from moral foundations. In a world where talent no longer means much. Moreover, the shift in Slovakia from countries where I have friends and from where I drew inspiration concerns me deeply. What if we’re already boiling like frogs in water? I ask myself: Is it time to leave? But where to? I have a family. What will we all do “there”? How will we pay for living costs? Or should I stay and fight? But how? I’m 41 – will I waste more years of my life fighting against something I can’t win? On the other hand, I realize that the situation is not much better worldwide. California is burning, geopolitical tensions are escalating. So where to go?
On Friday, I was at a strike in Prešov. After all these protests since the journalist's murder, I honestly felt a sense of stagnation. A feeling that it leads nowhere. There are too few of us. I’m shocked by how people no longer care about lies and populism as the only path to power. Should I stay here and work? Should my children study and live their lives here? I don’t know… I feel like we’re still starting over. I love Slovakia and enjoy talking about it abroad as a new, modern, and open country. Finally, the world has started to see us, respect us, and like us. But we are not heading in the right direction.
We are fighting within ourselves. We fight with envy and fail to appreciate what we have. We constantly wait for someone to give us something, to pity us. We are, in fact, voluntary poor people (slaves in our minds). Unhappy warriors for nothing, who could lose everything. And for me, everything means FREEDOM – in its broader sense.
Yet, somewhere deep inside, I feel that it’s right to stay. Or…?
David
Dear David, I feel your indecision, unease, and (maybe) even desperation. They are the feelings of any and every person pondering emigré or refugee life (leaving **home**), felt by wandering humans over eons. At least you still have the possibilities of **choice** before you at this point in time. There is great freedom in that. The world is chaotic and becoming increasingly hostile to reason, common sense, peace, and human altruistic fellow feeling. However, the world has always been a dangerous place. Even absent war, famine, pestilence, and plague—in a relatively **safe** city or country (if there is such a thing right now)—you could step off of a curb somewhere and be hit by the first bus, or taxi cab that comes along. Life is precious and fragile. Choose whatever is the best thing for you **and** you family. Go where you **all** might live and thrive. In the end, family is **the** most important thing. Career development, advancement, and accolades are **not** unimportant. But trust me, no great achievement is worth the sacrifice of family. I speak as one who for many years made wrong choices in this area, and now look back on a personal history that I wish had gone much differently. And it could have, if only I had had my priorities in correct order. I hope this advice from a random stranger is not an affront. I am only a **fan** of you music and podcasts. I know that I have no right to give any advice. But the world is a painfully messed up place, and my first impulse now in life is to do whatever I can, whenever I can (however small), to try to make it a better place—tikkun olam.