Milan Zavasnik lived his life without showing much pride, but he was always present. It was not a phrase or a symbol, but an attitude. Like a backbone, as we say.
He was a man of intellect, precision and responsibility. A man who understood that community, country and trust do not build themselves, but are built anew every day - with work, with consistency and with personal integrity. He has given everything and more to his career. Not for ambition, but for the inner conviction that things must be done right; without shortcuts or excuses.
Pride in Slovenia was not a slogan or a saying, but something that was felt in (his) everyday actions. Just as we cherish our language and heritage, he cherished order, respect and responsibility towards his homeland. He believed that belonging was not (social) closed-mindedness, but maturity. That you can look across borders, learn from others, embrace the breadth of the world and remain firmly rooted in where you belong.
Born in Kamnik, he has carried a mountain mentality with him all his life. Kamnik gave him the understanding that belonging is not a choice of the moment, but something you carry with you and is part of every cell of your body. For love of Kamnik, he soon moved to Styria, to Slovenska Bistrica. He made his home and family here and lives here today. He changed places, but never values. Wherever he went, he showed respect for the place, the people and the work. Such belonging is not explained, but recognised. Most often in one's actions.
If his intellect was rooted in duty, his heart was always breathing elsewhere.
In the mountains.
He did not go there to escape, but to keep in touch with the essential. The mountains were his inner compass and at the same time a place where belonging was revealed without words. It was not about peaks or achievements, but about the journey. It was about the way you walk, the way you return and the way you stay true to yourself.
This is where the thought of Nejc Zaplotnik, who says that whoever searches for a goal often remains empty when he reaches it, but whoever finds the way carries the goal inside him all the time, takes on its true meaning. Milan did not look for goals in his life that would separate him from others. He found a path that connected him to them. A path where belonging was not proclaimed, but lived - in work, in the relationship with people and the Slovenian land, and in respect for place and homeland.
In the mountains, Slovenia is as it really is - raw, authentic and stripped bare. The kind that doesn't need (special) explanations to know who you are and where you belong. There are no functions, titles or roles. There is only the human being. Alone with oneself and with the height in all its majesty.
The photo of him standing on Triglav on his head is not a game. It is a symbol. The world turned upside down to see if you are still standing firmly where you belong. And he was standing. Calmly. Collected. With the balance that comes from inner clarity.
He is still a role model. Someone who makes you understand that love for our country is measured in the way you live among people and in the place you belong. That you can learn from others without getting lost, and that even a mountain does not question whether it is standing right.
Zala Krupljan, 20. 12. 2025
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