vladimirgrebenar 
When I listened to the lectures of a very famous university professor from Great Britain about ten years ago as a postgraduate student, I heard the term “entrepreneurial society” for the first time in my life. I remembered that one of the key features of an entrepreneurial society is that the individual takes responsibility for his own future, that is, that he seeks his own place in society, and not that society necessarily cares about its success, ie as the state would tell me.
Developed countries such as the USA, the leading countries of the European Union and developed Asian countries have implicitly or explicitly stated goals of building an entrepreneurial society in their economic policy and national strategy. Trends in kindergarten and primary school children learning about entrepreneurship in highly developed countries have been around for decades.
Unfortunately, our society (Croatia) is facing two negative trends that have negative consequences for our young country. The first trend is population emigration, and the second trend is mortality. Our homeland was hit by a wave of emigration of the able-bodied population from which individuals seek realization and prosperity under “someone else’s” sun. When you listen to media reports, various shows on this topic or parliamentary skirmishes, it seems that our society is falling apart unstoppably and that the cause of everything is exclusively in politics and politicians for the past twenty years.
Demographers are looking for causes in demographic policy, mostly current and former prime ministers and ministers, presidents and politicians are being blamed, culprits are being sought on all sides. However, the truth is, as is customary, significantly different from what is superficially imposed as a conclusion. The facts prove that the emigration trend progressively increased with the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union from 2013 until 2017, and after that it grows but at a lower rate.
On the other hand, the trend of return of emigrants is increasing so that in 2018, according to official data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the smallest difference between emigration and return to the Republic of Croatia is about 13 thousand in favor of emigration. Everything can still be commented very negatively in the context of the guilt of various policies from democratic changes to here, but very similar trends were recorded by all other former socialist countries when joining the European Union.
For example, Poland, which became an EU member in 2004 and has a population of about 38 million, has been hit by a trend of emigration in almost the same statistical terms, so that currently about 6% of emigrated Poles are abroad. Since 2016, the return trend is higher than the emigration trend. Thus, the entire area of the Eastern bloc that joined the community of European states recorded similar depopulation trends.
According to some rough estimates, up to 10% of the population emigrated from all former socialist countries, and today is an EU member, and about 5% of emigrants returned. The Republic of Croatia is certainly not an exception and the scenario of emigration to the Republic of Croatia has already been seen earlier in other countries.
What are the real causes of migrations of the working-age population in our homeland, but also in other former communist countries? I am sure of the following answer: post-communist societies are not sufficiently entrepreneurial societies and a significant part of the working population still expects the state to solve the existential problems of its citizens. The consequence is that a significant part of the population does not cope with the circumstances of a market economy.
Unfortunately, most of us are taught to finish schools and colleges, but we are not taught about responsibility, how to solve problems, and accept challenges. We could not see enough entrepreneurial behavior of our parents, neighbors, relatives, etc., because any form of entrepreneurship for two generations was strictly prohibited. For more than half a century, we have lived in a society that has offered children examples of 2nd world war heroes, not examples of how one can succeed with one’s own work.
The third generation of people from World War II to here, that is, children born in the ’80s and early’ 90s, attended the same curricula from the former system, and were taught by people whose way of thinking was mostly formed in the former socialist system. They were taught by professors and teachers whose most of their working careers belonged to that time.
Thus, three generations of people were formed in a society that forcibly tried to create a society of equal individuals. On the other hand, the countries to which our people have been migrating for a better life for more than two centuries have been building a society of equal opportunities for all in freedom. I remember very well when a professor in a lecture in 2008 said that business decline and failure is one of the most valuable business experiences necessary for later success and that we postgraduate students of entrepreneurship from the Republic of Croatia experienced this statement with complete misunderstanding.
Today, the situation is significantly different and this claim is no longer surprising. Positive changes happen for two reasons. The first, almost 30 years of free entrepreneurship in the Republic of Croatia, encouraged the creation of an entrepreneurial society of equal opportunities for all that is being taken away from the society of equal individuals. Second, many young emigrants from the Republic of Croatia have returned to their homeland and are opening micro-enterprises after building a different mental model of thinking in an entrepreneurial society.
Former socialist countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia, which did not have a war and joined the EU earlier, had similar processes of change.
Trends have become more positive, but they are not such that it can be said that we will quickly reach the standard of developed EU countries.
It is estimated that in just two generations, circumstances will be created in our society that will be lustrated by the socialist mental model of a society of equal individuals, which will enable more progressive growth in entrepreneurship.
Should we wait two more generations to pull us out of the crisis of society? Indeed, the experience of a crisis is more of a personal experience and less of an objective given. Why?
Not all people and families are in the same situation. When it comes to the crisis and weak macroeconomic indicators of society, they always refer to the average, and that average is made up of some companies and individuals who are very good in crisis and some companies and individuals who are very weak and even weaker in crisis.
The population of the society is not homogeneous, but heterogeneous. When a man is a Croat in the first place, and then only a believer, or when he loves Croatia more than the Kingdom of Heaven, he can be very disappointed, because currently the circumstances are such that our earthly and temporary homeland will not reach the average of highly developed EU countries for at least two more decades. However, our Lord did not promise that the situation of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Heaven on earth will improve when society emerges from the crisis and enters into prosperity.
The Lord has promised each individual that when he does the will of God, he takes with love the cross that gives him that he will receive “a hundredfold” on this earth as a resident of the kingdom of heaven. One hundredfold from the Lord’s mouth means an abundance of spiritual graces and material blessings as a foretaste of what is in the other world: “what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard” (1Cor 2:9).
God is rich and true wealth comes from God. It does not mean that all people who possess great material possessions have acquired it as inhabitants of the kingdom of Heaven. Many came to earthly riches through the works of the devil, and the father of lies temporarily rewarded them in order to eventually deprive them of the most important things, themselves and eternity. What do we need to do as believers today to change this situation?
First, what we should not do is wait for others to solve problems or call others for our problems, because it is as if we are saying that Jesus did not tell the truth, that one cannot succeed if you are a believer, that Jesus’ promises are not valid today. We must not complain that the situation in society is not good and that evil has outweighed good. However, that is not true! The true believer will not tell stories of Jesus and his love, but will above all testify by works and deeds that Jesus’ promises are true and fruitful.
We should not wait for two generations in the Republic of Croatia to create a better climate in society, but we should cling to Jesus now and listen to what his will is for my life and what I should do for the kingdom of God on earth. What I need to do for Jesus is the key to success, not what others need to do for me or “what you God do for me.” If we want to change our homeland for the better, it is best to start from ourselves first and see if we create and live from our work or manipulate ourselves while being a burden to others.
Stories of the disintegration of society and the guilt of politicians and other speeches are a complete failure. We need to look for people who are positive and proactive and surround ourselves with those people because they belong to some other world in which change is created and encouraged. We need to stay away from people who are negative and who talk ugly about others. It is not an easy path and there are no quick fixes. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that stays underground for a long time and nothing is seen at first, but it is known with faith that it germinates and will bear fruit. Patience and perseverance with great responsibility with a lot of faith and big changes will happen before we think. Whoever is not ready to go that route will be greatly disappointed in life. He who sows in faith will also reap abundant fruit in faith. Let no one tire of doing what comes from the Lord as the Word who will bear fruit.[1]
[1] The article was published with minor changes in: Veritas. Glasnik Sv. Antuna Padovanskog. Croatian Province of St. Jerome of the Franciscan Conventuals. Zagreb. Sveti Duh 31. No. 2. February 2020. p. 34.