SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

Values shape us. It is mutual help that has a special place among them; not only as an act, but also as an expression of humanity. Sometimes someone spontaneously helps us, sometimes we have to ask for help, sometimes we don't get it. Its real power is when we receive it unexpectedly, without conditions. The value of mutual help is often shown in the silence, in the moment when someone senses without words the distress of a fellow human being.

I worked in a company, in a department where the office was full of women. As a newly recruited employee, sitting in an office where numbers played a role and work required precision, I found myself in a situation I was not equal to. This was at a time when dinars and pairs were still in use. The amounts on the list should have matched each other, but they did not for me. There were five pairs missing, which was not a lot, but it meant that something was wrong. My colleagues usually simply made up for such errors in an accounting way, but I wanted to find the reason for the discrepancy. I looked, I searched, I checked, but I was unsuccessful.

I sighed loudly at the table, "It's not working, it's not working!" Then my colleague Sonja, without being asked, came over to me and said, "Let's look at it together. You check the amounts on the list and I'll check the ones that are typed on the calculator." In those years, we did not even know how to use computers. We did everything virtually on the arm. Sonja and I worked together, searching, ticking boxes and exchanging the list and the amounts once again. After a short time, we found the gnome who had been nagging us. We kept mistaking the number eight for a three.

It was a small but important mistake. It was not just about the numbers, but about the feeling that I was not alone. That there is someone there who understands, helps and does not judge me. This kind of help is more than an act. It is a value that builds trust, respect and connection.  

When I asked Sonja why she was immediately ready to help me while other colleagues remained cold and indifferent, her simple answer was: 'Because I had been in a similar situation myself many times and I had no one to help me. I know exactly what that looks like."

To this day, I have never forgotten that sentence. It was not just about helping her work, but about understanding and an experience that gave birth to compassion. This little story from the office is a wonderful example of mutual aid as a value, a genuine solidarity between people that shows itself in a moment of distress, uncertainty and a desire for precision. It reveals the importance of support among colleagues, especially when work is demanding and constrained. The essence of real help is that it comes not from a sense of duty, but from the heart. 

Bernarda Jenko, 14 Oct 2025