In these last and final hours of the year, many of us will surely be meditating on the relativity of time. Some days may seem endless; still, the years fly away. Such might be the way we glance back at events of 2013: whatever felt ever so important and exciting, filling the raging pages of today’s media, will over time lose its buzz and may look near meaningless in the big historical picture.
Even so, each year has its part to play, in the Estonian Story. As for 2013, it surely took on the dimension of confidence. On March 27th, we celebrated Perpetuation of Liberty Day: with 7,890 days passed since regained independence, freedom had now lasted for longer than from birth of Estonian state till the tragic 1940 when occupied by the Soviet Union. Some, indeed, were sceptical towards the said landmark; still, the day served to infuse us with courage and conviction: had we been prone to grumbling, the resurrection of statehood would surely have remained an illusion.
Still, Estonia did arise. And, as underlined by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves at ETV end-of-year interview, the window of opportunity was successfully entered. This upcoming spring, ten years will have passed since Estonia entered EU and NATO. This not being an issue of membership alone: good for us to esteem the democratic values jointly upheld. The times they are a-changin’... windows of change now appear in different shapes altogether. Nevertheless, it’s ever the values that stand as pillar to all, not the sums some might offer. As the year revealed, Ukraine still stands at the fork in the road, with many inclined to ride on towards the West.
In EU, Estonia may not assume the role of a bless-me-type laggard; rather, we ought to try pulling off some innovation. As heralded by Estonian info-society development plan, virtual i.e. e-residency is coming: «Estonia will be issuing electronic identity, in digi-ID format, to non-residents, aiming its e-services at a position enjoyed by Switzerland in banking.» Utopia? Not long ago, Estonian and Finnish prime ministers signed (sic! digitally) a joint document offering Northern neighbours use of Estonia’s X-Road data exchange environment.
From time to time, one gets the impression that Estonia’s educational system is hopelessly out of joint – be it the issue of gymnasium reform or the elite schools rush. This year, PISA tests served to soothe us to know we’re in global top ten in several segments. Encouraging indeed, for future innovations. Student satellite ESTCube-1, among others birthed by Postimees’ Person of the Year physicist Mart Noorma, turned Estonia into a space state; our robotics show Robotex has grown up to become international.
Civil society, historically active in 2012, this year surfaced evermore in domestic policy. At local elections, two such «civil» lists of candidates made it into council of Tartu, second largest city in the land. In Tallinn, the most successful of such came close to getting in as well. We’ve seen or very first inclusive budget. Riigikogu is processing several amendments which, if ratified, will give the public increased opportunities to have a say – in between elections. Even in old democracies, processes of the kind are underway: in Germany, soc dems did a grass-roots inside-the-party vote on whether/how to enter coalition.
By all we saw and succeeded in, during 2013, confidence in us ought to grow: we will be able to manage ourselves prudently and push back the populist tricks aimed at nothing else than redistribution of the wealth we’ve earned.
But today, as we sit around the New Year’s Eve tables, why not echo the wisdom of the Paunvere Pharmacist in The Wedding of Toots by our beloved Oskar Luts: «Rejoice and be glad in the hours of gladness, and work when ‘tis time to toil. The latter, may I mention, will soon be upon us; come tomorrow, come the day after, work awaits us all. Then do we glower... we glower a bit, but still do we roll up our sleeves. And doubtless do we also succeed, as helped by God and our very selves.»