Slovensko & Svet/Slovakia & the World [antikvár]

WHY SLOVAKIA AND THE WORLD? We've known each other for years, decades even. We used to meet occasionally to exchange our impressions — or, rather, our problems. We were attracted by distances, different ones for each of us; we each found our strongest magnet in a different comer of the world. Returning home from our long trips, enriched by new experience and ideas, and often at the end of our strength - and not only physical strength - we did not always find a warm welcome. For almost all of us it was very difficult to set out on a long trip. Each journey was sustained by desire, strong will and a readiness to self-denial, and by great sacrifices on the part of our families. Today we can say that we have seen at least a small part of the wide world. Of that wide world which - despite geographical distance - took many from our circle to its bosom with greater kindness than did their "nearest and dearest" at home, or that beautiful but too hard, rough and stony patch of land which we refer to naturally as our native soil We always returned home, but others either were not granted that pleasure or were so embittered that they "never again" wanted to see that beautiful section of the planet under the Tatras. Time, however, often interferes with man-made plans. And that is a good thing. We do not doubt that today there will be many more who will go to experience the wide world, to return, some sooner, some later, to the place which is their home. Nor do we doubt that from day to day the numbers will grow of those who decided years ago to leave "for good" - or whose parents or grandparents did so. Even if their home is now irrevocably far from the Danube or the Tatras their roots nevertheless lie deep in the soil of Slovakia — and they are more aware of this now than at any time before This book is intended for those who still feel some sense of proprietorship to that little piece of beautiful hilly land with its rich fields — though they were not always rich for all of us - to the deep and beautiful forests and to the rivers where from time to time you can still find a trout or a goby. And it is intended too for those who in the future would like to say to themselves: I shall be a traveller, I shall get to know the world and each time return to my homeland richer than before For travelling, getting to know the world and other people does indeed enrich us beyond measure by opening our eyes wide.