To Friends by Ioana Ieronim

I am ashamed that I am Spanish because of Franco
I am ashamed that I am French because of Algeria
I am ashamed that I am Algerian because of France
I am ashamed that I am American because of Bush, Iraq and the bloodshed once among brothers
I am ashamed that I am Russian because of Stalin, Gulag and recently of this and that
I am ashamed that I am German because of Hitler, clearly (Pol Pot appears more and more seldom in
the lists, but one is horrified, humanly ashamed, remembering)

I am ashamed that I am English because of football etc
I am ashamed that I am Polish — only when I am not proud
I am ashamed that I am Turkish, but then there are Kurds...
I am ashamed that I am Czech and allowed myself to be stifled

(I am just as ashamed myself — some say, who feel shame in its extremity and hide weapons in pantries, waiting for that moment in which they wash away their shame with the blood of traditional enemies)

I am ashamed that I am Orthodox or Catholic and I wedge and split the mountain on which Jesus bled — before others made even smaller pieces out of his Golgotha below
I am ashamed that I am Indian because... well, it’s no matter
I am ashamed that being Macedonian I let the Greeks be even more
I am ashamed that I am Korean and one of Kim Ir Sen’s
I am ashamed that I am Korean no matter where, as long as Kim Ir Sen’s Koreans remain
I am ashamed that I am Serbian, but... let me think
I am ashamed that I am Chinese because: ‘You’re Chinese?’
I am ashamed that I am Romanian because of Ceasusescu, Dracula of course

and now, God, all these Romanians all over the world...
I am ashamed of my nation even when I am not ashamed — but each of us seeks to forget something I am ashamed because ..........
[Everyone: fill in the blanks, write yours here!]

but you, but you — you,only you you,whose nation filled the desolate earth with life and kindness

you are the man who begins the new day
today
with your first step