My forty-fifth (45) writing to my grandchildren = Moj četrdeset peti (45) opis mojim unucima.

My dear grandchildren, your grandfather “Babu” Milan will answer this question, which has more than one answer. Why more answers? Simply because every human being on the globe wants to have as long a life as possible and throughout that long life there are many people who have helped him in one way or another and in different needs. I know for sure that you will agree with me that these people deserve recognition and gratitude.But, I repeat with capital letters BUT that among all those people who deserved recognition and gratitude, are our parents in the first place and in the first row. Why? The simple answer to that is because we all have parents and because our parents started teaching us all the human virtues of life. That cannot be denied. I will try to summarize my parents’ advice to me. The mother had her mother’s advice while the father had his father’s advice. That’s how I learned the Ten Commandments from my mother, which she often repeated to me and wanted me to learn them and to say them by heart. My mother was very pious, and she inherited that from her parents, my grandmother Kata and grandfather Mijo. Although they could not read or write, they had a gift for memory. And my mother Iva wanted her son Milan, your grandfather “Babu” to know the Ten Commandments of God by heart. As I learned them then with my mother, I still know them today, and I will put them here for my grandchildren. For my grandchildren I am putting a picture of your grandmother “Mamie” first Communion when she was 12 years old, 1959.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS1. I am the Lord, your God, do not have other gods with me!
2. Do not utter the name of the Lord, your God, in vain!
3. Remember that you are celebrating the Lord’s Day!
4. Respect your father and mother so that they may live long and be well on earth!
5. Do not kill!
6. Do not sin promiscuously!
7. Do not steal!
8. Do not tell false testimonies!
9. Don’t covet someone else’s spouse!
10. Don’t covet other people’s things!My dear grandchildren, these 10 Commandments of God, starting from the first to the tenth commandments, teach you how you should behave in general in your life. These are the principles of every human life, and all of us in our life could say for ourselves that there is no God’s Commandment that we have not broken in one way or another in our earthly life. As every country in the world judges for all misdemeanors, major or minor, that is why there are confessions in Christian churches, where people confess at least once a year without fear. That’s how it used to be and today it’s completely different, which does not mean that the Ten Commandments of God lose their value and meaning of life. My mother Iva used to tell me that not everything is beautiful that looks beautiful, but everything that pleases your heart is beautiful. So when the time comes and you start looking at girls, look at the ones your heart is looking at. Then you will not be deceived, because your heart will not allow you to do so. The eyes are different, you close one while the other you just squint…

My father Petar had another role in my life. To tell the truth, I spent more time with my father doing various physical works in the field than with my mother. That’s why I had the opportunity to hear from my father many stories and adventures that he went through and that he heard from the elders that they went through. And when I heard those stories from the elderly people in my Croatian village of Bobanova Draga, I often connected it with the virtues of the Ten Commandments of God. I will never forget one occasion when, as a child of 5/6 years, I went with my mother to the field where my father was working with a hoe and he told my mother, his wife how tired he was and that he couldn’t wait to come home to rest. When he came home in the evening and during dinner he started talking again about how tired he was, then I told him that digging is easy, you just take a hoe and put it in the air and put it on the ground, etc., etc. The father laughed and said , son, when you grow up everything will be clear to you, but now look and remember what you heard and what you saw.

On another occasion, my father and I went to the field to cut grass, hay. He had one scythe and I had another. I put my scythe on my right shoulder and turned the blade down. When my father saw this, he immediately told me that the scythe should not be carried like that, the blade should always be turned upwards, in the air, so that it cannot injure anyone during the hike.

My dear grandchildren, I firmly believe that with this writing of mine I have answered the question:

Those would be my parents, because from them I learned the general principles of life from a young age. Everything else came with the time of life, the time of school life, the time of technical development in which a new way of life is developed. And we have to obey that, because from the moment we get up in the morning until the moment we go to bed, we are all subject to village, city and state laws. These are universal laws that arose from the principles of the TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.Your eternal grandfather “Babu” Milan.

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Stavio sam sliku vaših djeda “Babu” i bake “Mami”.

                                                  Prijevog na hrvatski

Dragi moji unuci, na ovo pitanje, koje ima više od jednog odgovora, odgovorit će vam vaš djed “Babu” Milan. Zašto? Naprosto zato što svaki čovjek na kugli zemaljskoj želi imati što duži život i kroz taj dugi život postoji mnogo ljudi koji su mu pomogli na ovaj ili onaj način i u različitim potrebama. Znam sigurno da ćete se složiti sa mnom da ti ljudi zaslužuju priznanje i zahvalnost.

Ali, ponavljam velikim slovima  ALI  da su među svim tim ljudima koji su zaslužili priznanje i zahvalnost na prvom mjestu i u prvom redu naši roditelji. Zašto? Jednostavan odgovor na to je zato što svi mi imamo roditelje i zato što su nas roditelji počeli učiti svim ljudskim vrlinama života. To se ne može poreći. Pokušat ću sažeti savjete mojih roditelja upućene meni. Majka je imala majčin savjet, dok je otac imao očev savjet. Tako sam od svoje majke naučio Deset Božjih Zapovijedi koje mi je često ponavljala i htjela da ih naučim i da ih govorim napamet. Moja majka je bila vrlo pobožna, a to je naslijedila od svojih roditelja, moje bake Kate i djeda Mije. Iako nisu znali čitati ni pisati, imali su dar za pamćenje. A moja mama Iva htjela je da njen sin Milan, vaš djed “Babu” zna Deset Božjih Zapovijedi napamet. Kako sam ih naučio tada s mamom, znam ih i danas, a stavit ću ih ovdje za moje unuke. Za moje unuke ću staviti sliku prve pričesti njihove babe “Mamie” kada joj je bilo 12 godina 1959.

DESET BOŽJIH ZAPOVIJEDI1. Ja sam Gospodin, tvoj Bog, nemoj imati drugih bogova uz mene!
2. Ne izgovaraj uzalud imena Gospodina, Boga svoga!
3. Sjeti se da slaviš Dan Gospodnji!
4. Poštuj oca i majku da dugo žive i dobro im bude na zemlji!
5. Ne ubijaj!
6. Ne griješite promiskuitetno!
7. Ne kradi!
8. Ne govori lažna svjedočanstva!
9. Ne poželi tuđeg bračnog druga!
10. Ne poželi tuđe stvari!Dragi moji unuci, ovih 10 Božjih Zapovijedi, počevši od prve do desete zapovijedi, uče vas kako se uopće trebate ponašati u svom životu. To su načela svakog ljudskog života i svi mi u svom životu mogli bismo za sebe reći da nema te Božje Zapovijedi koju nismo na ovaj ili onaj način prekršili u ovozemaljskom životu. Kako svaka država na svijetu sudi za sve prekršaje, veće ili manje, zato postoje ispovijedi u kršćanskim crkvama, gdje se ljudi bez straha barem jednom godišnje ispovijedaju. Tako je TO bilo nekada a danas je sasvim drugačije, što ne znači da deset Božjih Zapovijedi gube svoju vrijednost i smisao života. Moja mama Iva govorila mi je da nije sve lijepo što lijepo izgleda, ali je lijepo sve što je srcu drago. Pa kad dođe vrijeme i počneš gledati djevojke, gledaj one u koje ti srce gleda. Tada se nećete prevariti, jer vam srce to neće dopustiti. Oči su različite, jedno oko zatvoriš, a na drugo samo žmiriš…

Moj otac Petar imao je još jednu ulogu u mom životu. Istini za volju, više sam vremena provodio s ocem radeći razne fizičke poslove u polju nego s majkom. Zato sam od svog oca imao priliku čuti mnoge priče i dogodovštine kroz koje je on prošao i koje je čuo od starijih koje su oni prošli. I kad sam te priče slušao od starijih ljudi u mom hrvatskom selu Bobanova Draga, često sam to povezivao s vrlinama Deset Božjih Zapovijedi. Nikada neću zaboraviti jednu priliku kada sam kao dijete od 5-6 godina išao sa mamom na njivu gdje je moj otac radio, kopao s motikom i rekao mojoj majci, njegovoj ženi kako je umoran i da ne može čekati doći kući da se malo odmori. Kad je navečer došao kući i za vrijeme večere opet počeo pričati kako je umoran, onda sam mu ja rekao da je lako kopati, samo uzmeš motiku i digneš je u zrak pa ju opet spustiš na zemlju itd. itd. Otac se nasmijao i rekao sine kad porasteš sve će ti biti jasno, a sad gledaj i zapamti što si čuo i što si vidio.

Drugom prilikom smo otac i ja išli u polje kositi travu, sijeno. On je imao jednu kosu, a ja drugu. Stavio sam kosu na desno rame i okrenuo oštricu prema dolje. Kad je otac to vidio, odmah mi je rekao da se kosa ne smije tako nositi, oštrica uvijek treba biti okrenuta prema gore, u zraku, da ne može nikoga ozlijediti tijekom pješačenja.

Dragi moji unuci, čvrsto vjerujem da sam ovim mojim pisanjem odgovorio na pitanje:

“Kada biste nekome trebali zahvaliti, kome biste zahvalili i zašto?”

To bi bili moji roditelji, jer sam od njih od malih nogu učio opća načela života. Sve ostalo je došlo s vremenom života, vremenom školskog života, vremenom tehničkog razvoja u kojem se razvija novi način života. I tome se moramo pokoravati, jer od trenutka kad ujutro ustanemo do trenutka kad legnemo, svi smo podvrgnuti seoskim, gradskim i državnim zakonima. To su univerzalni zakoni proizašli iz načela DESET BOŽJIH ZAPOVIJEDI.Vaš vječni djed “Babu” Milan.