FLEETING TRAVELERS

by KATARINA VISINTIN

I wonder what a man is capable of. He invented the bicycle, the printing press, the automobile, the airplane, the computer, the telephone, and so many other things that fundamentally changed the course of history. He erected magnificent palaces, towering skyscrapers, built bridges, cathedrals, mosques and temples. He composed eternal symphonies, conducted research, wrote novels, plays, poetic and philosophical works. Over the years, he has preserved knowledge in encyclopedias, upgraded it and spread it from one end of the world to the other. He painted canvases, chapels, and entire halls that captured time and stopped it forever. He developed many fields of knowledge, from science and medicine to the humanities, and thus made an important contribution to the progress of humanity. He learned languages, including those of his neighbors, so that he could communicate with them. He strengthened relationships, despite all sorts of problems that came up again and again. He learned to forgive and start a new chapter.

I wonder what else a man is capable of. He accomplished things that his ancestors would not have even imagined. He seems invincible when he encroaches on nature, when he builds what he imagines overnight, when he destroys everything that could be an obstacle to him, when he exploits resources as if they were inexhaustible. And he feels like he’s the strongest in this world. The one and only ruler. That nothing and no one can stand in his way. He became greedy for power, money, space, influence. He looks selfishly at himself and at his own interests. He fights over a piece of land, builds walls, uses words as weapons. Relationships slip through his fingers, he turns away in someone else’s distress, rushing past the ignored and wounded.

And in this power, which seems to have no limits, he has forgotten that he is only a man and that he is fleeting.

He lives as if he were eternal, as if the earth has infinite patience, as if it can leave garbage and rubble behind. It builds shopping malls, industrial zones, resorts on the last pristine shores, roads through natural habitats, new cities on vacant land. It is as if earnings have more meaning than life, as nature and as man himself. He is driven by an irresistible desire for progress, where each invention opens the door to the next, each breakthrough reveals a new goal. Human power has grown, but blindness has grown along with it. The desire for even more power, unlimited, ruthless, greedy, with no awareness of boundaries.

How small we are. And how presumptuous. We have forgotten that we do not own this world. That we inherited it and that we owe it further. We have forgotten that there will be someone else behind us who will have the right to a dignified life, just like us. We have forgotten what is really important in life: not money, not power, but relationships. We have forgotten respect for nature and compassion for our fellow human beings. We forgot to stop the step and just be. We have forgotten that no success can warm us as much as a sincere embrace, and that no palace built can replace the home where we are truly welcomed. We have forgotten gratitude for the little things, for the time allotted to us, for the hand that supports us when we run out of strength. In all this endless chatter, in the blind desire to rule and have everything, we have overlooked the most basic truth. We have forgotten that we are only fleeting travelers on Earth.