Foresight and hindsight are incredibly important things to know how (and when) to execute, and many are seemingly left without such abilities…
Yesterday, the 1st of October, 2017, marked the 26th anniversary of the horrendous Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) attack on the Pearl of the Adriatic. Just like every year, Dubrovnik held a solemn and touching program of events to honour that tragic day, the beginning of a dark period of literal hell for the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the hands of what cannot really be called anything but senseless, brutal terrorism.
The attack, a mere 26 years ago, saw the city mercilessly and repeatedly hit from land, air and sea. Shells and rockets don’t provide the most harmonious of sounds, nor do fireworks, especially not on such an incredibly sad anniversary. Just as Dubrovnik lacked justice and security back then, Dubrovnik is apparently lacking common sense now. The bizarre timing of the loud and long-lasting fireworks last night drew many peoples’ memories back to that deeply black day, and not in a natural way.
Angry statements posted across social media platforms, particularly Facebook, highlighted the sheer level of poor taste the whole event was in:
”I hope to find out who signed and approved this!”
”This is just below anything! Unbelievable!”
”This is provocation”
”This is the lowest of the low, and below that”
”It looks like everything in this city has its price, even fireworks on this day…”
Fireworks are a bit like marmite otherwise, you either love them or you hate them. Despite their obvious visual beauty and overall positive association of celebration, they really do get irritating after a very short while and of course, they’re well known for upsetting cats and dogs, even babies, but what about those who suffer from PTSD?
Having known several people in my lifetime who suffer with this horrendous condition, with daily fights through attacks of panic, high levels of anxiety and bouts of depression in their day to day lives, many of these traumatised individuals cannot even escape the wrath of this widely misunderstood condition with sleep – as they’re greeted with either insomnia or horrific nightmares about experiences their brain cannot lock away. If that wasn’t enough, those who are still struggling with flashbacks from the war here in Dubrovnik had their already poor sleep interrupted by sounds that are no different to the sound of bombs, guns, shells and rockets.
Sounding like an annoyed resident of Dubrovnik who is just sick of everything after a long summer of noise, crowds, heat and everything that comes with living in Croatia’s tourist Mecca is not something I want to come across as. This goes much deeper than that. We can (and do, usually) complain about loud noises and fireworks until the cows come home, we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t, but on the 1st of October, it just goes beyond and way, way below bad taste.
Questions about who allowed this and why, on such a black day, have been put forward to Dubrovnik’s City Administration by the local paper, DuList – answers have still not been provided.
