This is a post on ESTONIA. Yesterday was the 91th anniversary of its independence and the traditional Presidential cellebration took place in Jõvi. An otherwise remote (or rather removed from the public interest, because it is really close, as any Estonian would say: "Our country is so small that everything is nearby") location that draws no attention or interest from the rest of the country in an area that is associated fairly or not, with the times of ocupation and the decadence that followed the events of 1991.
Jõhvi, however was a clever choice from the President. Estonia is every single part of it, and the State, which is all of the population represented by the mandataries in charge, must reach out to maintain the connection with its people. I want to see my own President hosting traditional celebrations like this in different towns every year, moving some of the ministries to cities in need of revitalization and development, recognizing local leaders from every small town of the country.
"Estonia is so small that everything is nearby," becomes an advantage for its government to be effective and respected. The speech delivered by Toomas Hendrik Ilves was convincing, realistic and pedagogical. A presidential speech unique that did not bore anybody! I wish I was the first making a public note on it. It emphasized the need for solidarity, a quality that is rare to find in this part of the word. I liked the assessment, the tone, the emphasis, the place and I am sure it will be the talk of town for long.
Another example to follow from this country is its love and respect for nature;
This website provides an insight of the woods and wild animals inhabiting it. What a fantastic idea to provide this window to the world into any country. Once again, I want to see someone coming up with the same initiative in Colombia so the word, and we have finally access to the beauty of our gifted land! The site has links to 4 different cameras with direct stream into the forest, for birth watching and into the nest of an owl, plus a fantastic collection of pictures of landscapes by different contributors. Enjoy Estonia from afar!
This image by Arne Ader is specially nice because even though I am not very fond of birds (I probably have a phobia by association. Sara Farine fears them irrationally and she´s been my very good friend more than 20 years now), this looks like a drawing by my favourite illustrator of all:
Lisbeth Zwerger
