SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

But above all, she was a lady who knew how to carry honesty in her heart. Cheerful, determined, strong. And always, but really always, on the side of justice.

She worked in a local cooperative, in a warehouse where agricultural produce was picked up and delivered, and materials were distributed to farmers. The work was physically demanding, but Jende didn't mind. "There's no shame in working, there's shame in lying," she could say when someone complained that they deserved a better office.

But one day, something happened that would have broken many people. During her morning snack, she noticed that a colleague, Mr Ciril, who was known for his sweet words and always too fragrant clothes, often went into the back warehouse alone. Something was bothering her. One day, she gave him a silent glance and as he was returning with a suspiciously full rucksack, she said to him in a calm but firm tone, "Ciril, listen. If you think no one notices, you are mistaken. I don't want to hurt you, but stop it before it's too late. It's not right. You know very well it is not." Ciril muttered embarrassed, "Eh, Jenda, it's nothing like that. They all take a little."

She remained silent and just looked at him. A look that said more than a thousand words. She gave him a chance to stop. And she didn't. 

So she went to the boss, Mr Krajnec.

"Mr Krajnc, I don't want to make accusations, but something is bothering me. It might be a good idea to look at the inventory for the last warehouse," she said firmly, but with restraint.

The boss looked at her a little suspiciously. "Jenda, you've been here for twenty years. If something doesn't smell right, I'll take a look. But I hope it's not a stretch."

A few days later, an unexpected visit - an internal control from headquarters. Jenda knew they had taken the warning seriously. After a day of checks, things started to happen quickly. Ciril was caught trying to steal material from the warehouse. In a notebook he kept in his locker, they found records of past acquisitionsthat have never been recorded in official documents.

When confronted with this, Ciril first denied it, then admitted brokenly: "I thought it would go unnoticed. It's not a big deal... Everyone takes something..."

Jenda remained silent until he left. Then she turned to her boss and said, "Not everyone. Some of us go home every day with clean hands. And with a clear conscience."

For some time after the disclosure, tension prevailed in the company. But people respected Jenda even more than before. She was not afraid to speak up. She was the face of that honesty that is sometimes uncomfortable but necessary.

"I'd rather be hated for a day than be part of the silent majority forever," she once told my grandmother over coffee. And I remember it like it was yesterday.

Jenda never sought attention, but she always got it with her attitude. She was a woman of place - upright, honest and uncompromising. There is a shortage of people like that today. But her story lives on. Among us. In the family. In memories. And in me.

P.S.: I hope that now you and your grandmother are sipping coffee in heaven and continuing to fight for fairness, each in her own way.

Zala Krupljan, 10. 4. 2025