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 | Speeches | | |
President of the Republic as Patron of the Home Decoration Year, January 22, 2002, at the Tallinn Technical University22.01.2002
Dear Protagonists of home decoration,
Honourable President Meri and Honourable Mrs Meri,
Honourable County Governors,
Having accepted the proposal to patronize the Estonian home decoration movement I was overwhelmed by feeling of gratitude for the credit you have given me, but at the same time, I am also aware of my responsibility for the continuance of this movement as a vivid example of civic action.
At the time when this tradition - as we all know, being eagerly incited and supported by the first President of the Republic of Estonia, Konstantin Päts - was born in the Republic of Estonia, it did not by far mean only painting houses, mowing lawn, or gardens designed with the sense of beauty. Nor is it viewed in such a narrow manner today.
Since its outset, the home decoration has been expressing one's love to his family, and through this - one's loyalty to his people and country. Or, to tell it in words of Karl Jaspers, one of the famous thinkers of the last century: ''Home as a family institution grows out of love by which one human being, in unconditional fidelity, is bound up with another for their whole life.'' In this sense, the home decoration is not only a personal and national, but at the same time a patriotic deed as well. Today and here, I would like to emphasize just the lattermost, because our homes are not situated only in the countryside, in villages, or in small towns. Many of our countrymen have their homes in apartment houses standing in cities as well. And they too, could take the achievements of the house decoration movement as an example in respect of their homes.
I have lived in the countryside myself and at present, my home is in Tähtvere, a garden suburb of Tartu. Therefore, I know well, what a commitment and efforts it takes to maintain a home like this, in such a way that all family members could feel secure. However, while visiting for instance cities in Nordic countries, Germany, or also in other parts of Europe, one can but admire the will and skill of people to design and maintain also big apartment houses in a way that lets them appear homely. It does not take that much - to clean the windows more frequently, perhaps fresh paint or window boxes, and one can see: there are people and families living here, who are ready to make joint efforts for the purpose of their houses radiating respect for both themselves and their neighbours. This kind of respect, be it on the part of Estonians or of representatives of other nationalities regarding Estonia as their home, I expect to see growing.
Let us consider but the fact that the Estonian words ''kodanik'' and ''kodu'' (citizen and home) originate in the same stem. And so, the respect for home is directly related to being a citizen. Therefore, the civil society only emerging in Estonia, to a large extent also depends on how our home decoration movement will progress.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is a saying that we all come from our childhood. But likewise, we could say: ''We all come from our homes.'' The more beautiful our homes, or the more beautiful we would like to make them, the better are our chances that our spirits become more beautiful too.
On this note I would like to thank you for your confidence and wish the Estonian home decoration movement single-mindedness and further success.
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