Beside the birthdays, weddings, funerals and other very important moments in life, today I remember 20th Anniversary of  the Velvet revolution in Slovakia (Czechoslovakia). On 17th November 1989 the totalitarian system suffered the last and the strongest punch.

Since 20 years, almost everything has changed. I write „almost“ because the change of mentality is always a long-term challenge. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of „Bolsheviks“ in Slovakia, even 20 years after the change of political system.

Let me write it very frankly – I am ashamed for example of Slovakian PM Robert Fico. Other people thinking highly of freedom and democracy celebrate today. Asked about the Velvet revolution in November 1989, Mr. Fico some time ago said: „I did not notice (it).“ Those are the words of man, who claims to be the fighter for the prosperity and social fairness… (and who today travels to Moscow to shake Mr. Putin’s hand, instead of celebrating the freedom at home).

As a young guy in age of 25, I thank November 1989 for the majority of my opportunities – whether on field of personal or professional life. Thanks to our brave parents, I could grew up in freedom, I could learn about the things from various points of view, I could decide to be leftist or rightist, liberal or conservative, I could travel all around the world, I could start own business, and, in the main, I could always speak about all of this freely, without the fear of prosecution.

In November 1989, Slovakian PM Robert Fico was 25 and he „did not notice“. In November 2009, I am 25 and I do notice. In 1989 I was 5 and I also noticed. What I noticed? I noticed on TV that there were a lot of people in big cities and they had the keys in their hands. And I was always asking my parents and grandparents: „Father, mother, what were those people doing with their keys in hands?“ They used to answer: „Misko, today you did not understand, but in the future you would.“

Therefore, today, on 17th November 2009, I would like to thank all of those brave people for expressing the disagreement with the communist rule and for „velvet fighting“ for my freedom as well.

At the end, just for you interest, following song became the song of the Velvet revolution in Slovakia. I know that probably you do not understand Slovak, but I would try to translate the lyrics – not poetic, but I hope you would understand the main ideas. Here you are:

We saw the people craning their hands,
They had them empty and the dark was all around,
Since then, ages went through our streets,
We woke up from the bad dream.

We promised the love,
We promised to tell just the truth,
We promised to stand the all,
We promised the new day.

Those young people craned their hands for us,
For us and for our silence, they suffered the punches,
Since then, ages went through our streets,
And the bell rang to Evil for the last time.

We promised the love,
We promised to tell just the truth,
We promised to stand the all,
We promised the new day.