As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Marijan is the only bit of information we know about the man who gathered together the Rijeka homeless population and gifted them with something so kind. A project and accompanying magazine about the issue of homelessness recently began, entitled Street lamps/Ulicne svijetiljke. Part of it, entitled ”A family lunch, but nobody’s blood related/Obiteljski rucak, a nitko u krvnom srodstvu” describes the actions of the mysterious ”Marijan”.
Marijan. We have no idea what his surname is, we don’t even know if his name is spelled Marijan or without the “i” or perhaps even without the “j”. This man called the editorial office with the idea that he wanted to treat all of the users of the Street lamps project in Rijeka to lunch. He very modestly and simply explained that he reads the magazine and that he “found himself” in some stories and that every part belongs to us, feeling great sympathy for the Rijeka homeless population.
A time was arranged, the mystery man Marijan chose the place, and the Rijeka homeless population got together as a family might do.
What does Marijan look like? We have no idea because he didn’t come. He became unwell so he didn’t join us, but he didn’t want to cancel the lunch. He simply said; ”I don’t matter, THEY matter,” and then he sent his friend’s son to the restaurant with the money to settle the bill.
This act of kindness from a complete stranger who clearly had no ego involved as he didn’t want to disclose much information about himself and didn’t even turn up should act as a reminder to us all about what the festive season is truly all about.
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