“Are you Serbian or Croatian?”
Having been born in the northern region of the former Yugoslavia, Međimurje, my parents and I immigrated to Australian in 1970, when I was 3 years old.
Međimurje or Medjimurje, means Between the Rivers in Serbo-Croatian. It is situated between the Mura and Drava rivers. Not to be confused with Medjugorje, which means Between the Mountains. This is another place entirely.
Throughout my childhood and into my teens, I was always told we were from Yugoslavia and I had a Yugoslav heritage from the region of Međimurje.
One day, while in high school, a couple of my classmates of Greek and Italian background, who were aware that I was Yugoslav, asked me whether I was Serbian or Croatian.
This confused me. I had never heard these terms before.
“I’m Yugoslav”, I replied.
“Yeah, but are you Serbian or Croatia?”, they insisted.
That simple question was beyond my ability to respond to.
Later at home, I asked my mother, “Are we Serbian or Croatian”.
Her response was, “Croatian”.
“What does that mean?”, I followed up with.
She proceeded to explain that Croatia was like a state in Yugoslavia.
Well, whaddya know!? I had no idea I was supposed to be Croatian. Why didn’t my DNA tell me this?
At least now I knew who I was. I was Yugoslav, from the state of Croatia, living in Australia.
Moving along several years, Yugoslavia dissolved as a country in 1992.
I was 25.
What am I now?
I didn’t feel any different. I didn’t feel better or worse. My family was still the same. My background and history were still the same.
So what actually changed?
Nothing, really.
I have never been overly nationalistic for Yugoslavia, or even my home now, Australia.
A political construct failed.
But, so what.
Some people died needlessly on both sides, which made me wonder why. But other than that, life went on as normal.
Given this new situation, what did, being “Yugoslav” even mean?
What does, being “Croatian” or “Australian” even mean?
If the political construct of Australia collapsed tomorrow, would there be turmoil?
Probably.
But why?
What would really change, other than the place that I live, is now called something different and its political structure has changed?
Would Moral Values, change?
Would Individual Integrity, change?
Would people’s treatment of each other, change?
If substantive things like these, change, when a political construct fails, then these things never really existed in the first place.
Did they?
Attaching Individual Identity onto flimsy and unstable Foundations, such as Nationality and Religion, leads to a very precarious and insecure Psychological and Emotional Structure, when those Foundations eventually crumble.
All Material Conditions and Boundary States are unstable Foundations for Consciousness. This includes, all Psychologically and Emotionally contrived Foundations.
Consciousness cannot rest on such things. Because such things, are a product of Consciousness.
(As a side note, Croatians refer to Croatia as Hrvatska and Croatians themselves as Hrvati. Personally, I was never fond of the term, Croatia. Why did the British have to come up with different names for other peoples and their regions?)
