The introduction to the story is about animals. It is written by a woman who has dedicated her life to the discarded, neglected, injured, starved, sick, elderly and, above all, the poor little animal souls. She never looked away when they found themselves stranded by the side of the road, dumped in boxes in dustbins or tied up in sacks in the bushes. Malnourished, hypothermic, on the brink of life, one step from death.
I have been thinking for some time which of the stories I would take out and write about Enesa. About the tireless rescuer of unwanted, neglected and discarded kittens and abandoned, sick and discarded adult cats, for whom life did not offer them a good start, but because of her, they experienced the best possible end to their unhappy feline stories. She is a heartfelt lover of animals that most people look away from, and she offers them food, shelter and veterinary care even when she can barely cover her own monthly expenses. A strong, determined but compassionate and kind-hearted woman who also helps people who find everyday tasks difficult and tiring because of illness, old age and ailments. So this will not be a story exactly, but just a record of her.
I was taken by her qualities, which I hear or read about again and again; her upright worker's honesty, her cruel, hard and human honesty, and her incredible courage to always do what many others would not dare to do.
Integrity at work and in your relationships with your family, colleagues and your environment. Honesty with oneself when talking about oneself, one's difficulties, burdens, but also joys and joys, one's choices, one's life path, one's family, one's love for animals. Courage to speak openly and frankly about the most painful, pressing and also taboo or swept under the carpet topics. You don't meet many people like that in life. You can appreciate and support her, congratulate her on her unusual success storiesbut you can reject it because it arouses disgust, envy or even frustration in some people, because its words are often like sharp arrows that hit you right where the heart of the problem lies.
Enesa Marković is therefore cat - tigerwho is in fact the cat king of her home. She hides under his name when she writes posts for social networks. I like to read the notes written by Enesa under the pseudonym Tiger. And phone conversations with her can be very therapeutic. Since she moved from Trbovlje, we don't see each other anymore.
Tiger is in fact her brave tiger kitten, who keeps things fun, interesting and stressful under their roof. In the real story, he is also their roommates. In addition to the humans, she has eight other cats, two dogs, and, of particular importance, a large Aro and a bunny. Enesa says she would be happy to take in goats, sheep, ... Well, monkeys would be a bit much anyway. To be honest, some people really are more primate than homo sapiens.
Sometimes the notes and conversations with Enesa are spiced with a juicy Zasavje dialect and even some swear words, even though she moved some time ago from a small flat in Trbovlje to a farmhouse in the countryside in the hills of the Posavje mountains. There she found her paradise and good, like-minded people.
He honestly says that it is necessary to step out of your comfort zone and do something different, even if it is not easy. She is a woman without a hair on her tongue, but so very determined and courageous that she quickly becomes a thorn in the side of certain people. She speaks honestly about herself and about her menopause-related problems, which I can identify with. When her nerves are being frayed by people who have no understanding and respect for people and, above all, animals, when her spine and her joints are telling her that she is no longer of the age when it is permissible to live at full speed.
He tells us honestly that he feels great when he puts a prefabricated swimming pool in front of his house. She enjoys it more than a monolithic beach at the seaside. He cannot afford such a holiday because of his low salary. He prefers to use his income to rescue abandoned, abused and discarded kittens. In his lifetime, he has on the bagpipe and turnuse and with the help of the kind-hearted vet Knez from Trbovlje, saved a lot.
She speaks frankly and honestly about her hard work, which she loves because she is valued and respected by her colleagues, managers and the Director. She also feels better and more accepted in the team than anywhere else she has worked before. However, she says honestly, bravely and out loud that the professions in public institutions, where the most vulnerable, the elderly and the disabled live, are the most undervalued, unfairly pushed to the bottom of the pay scales, socially devalued, but indispensable in such institutions.
She works in the kitchen of a retirement home, where the summer heat is hellish, the humidity unbearable and the work physically exhausting. But there's plenty of laughter and genuine hugs, and the hearts of her co-workers are in the right place. She honestly and bravely knocks on the conscience of the authorities, in her notes and out loud, that despite her honest, hard and dedicated work, it is difficult to get through the month with the amount she receives. Yet he adds again and again that there is no happiness in money and material goods. Happiness is in honesty, genuine hugs, sincerity and the positive feeling of making people smile. She says: "When we laugh, endorphins are released. Stress, negativity - it all goes out. And that makes everything lighter, calmer and easier to digest. Non-performers remain non-storytellers. It will always be like this. We can only ever change ourselves ..."
She has lived modestly all her life, but that doesn't mean she isn't rich. She expresses the fact that she is, time and again, out loud, with heart, sincerity and courage. She is enriched by her relationships with people and animals, whom she helps in their most difficult moments and with whom she shares her home, her bed, her food and her life. She is rich because she has a family. Her two daughters share the same values and do not turn their backs on the needy and helpless. And she is rich because she is honest; with herself, with the people she lets close to her and with the environment in which she lives and works.
Her note: "In material terms, I have never had anything. And even if I had, it was as if I hadn't. All my life I have heard that goodness is an orphan. It is. I'm not saying it isn't. But it makes me sleep peacefully at night. Let's leave the ills of old age for now. I'm talking about a pure heart, honesty. I've also heard that I'll have nothing to leave my children. Yes, I admit that it hurt, but acting differently did not go with my character. Buying, building, giving up - doing everything else and not devoting myself to animal welfare.
I was also told that I could not save the whole world. Perhaps true, but I did save that little, helpless and tiny stogram creature that is now climbing on my head and wiping its little feet on me like I am a doormat. There were lots of little legs like that, and I am happiest when I think about it. And that is the most important thing. That makes me happy. Animals that are safe and with full stomachs.
Of course, I also left a lot to my children. Seeing sisters hug each other when they haven't seen each other for a long time. When I see one of them stop a car, and with it all the traffic, in the early hours of the morning to pick up a corpse that turns out to be alive despite the collision with the car, and does everything to keep it that way. When I feel their empathy for their fellow human beings, for animals and their respect for the elderly and the special... Oh yes, my dears, what a great legacy I have left them. I may have nothing, but I have all the treasure of this world. Around me are the people for whom I have prayed to God all my life. It may not always be ideal, but it is bearable and proud. And I always say that as long as I care about all this, I am rich.
Once I leave, I will leave a lot behind. It's not always all about materiality. You take nothing with you. But you have to live with yourself, and that is the hardest thing for many people. I believe that as long as my soul is light, I am on the right path."
Katja Mikula
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