9. Equal opportunities

Dedicated to those who say: "I am not concerned at all"
"Who are you?" asks the devil.
"I am Plebeian from birth and all the miserables are my brothers. Oh, the world is so ugly and the people are so unhappy!" answers a young man, trying to help his kind who is suffering.
In order to succeed he has to climb a stair that leads him directly to the "dukes and princesses". It is the last resort for the young man. The devil is the guard of the princes and at every step he demands ransom so that the young man can pass. Not only with gold can the devil be bribed but also by offering him the senses. So the young man gives his hearing to the devil which makes him deaf to the peoples' cries of despair. Moreover, he gives his eyesight which makes him blind to the misery of his fellow citizens. When getting to the last step, the devil demands the young man's heart as well as his memory. And now that the young man has arrived on top, among the princes, he looks at the world differently. He forgets where he comes from and for which reasons he came to see the devil. In his opinion, the crowd now cries of joy. The young man has become a prince himself. "I am prince from birth and the gods are my brothers. Oh, how beautiful the world is and how happy the people are!"

This story, written by a young, Bulgarian author one moth before his death at the age of 25, is still very topical today. The Europeans youth's confidence in the future is undermined by the fact that the principle of the equality of opportunity is only valid in a qualified sense which even questions the principle of equality in general - economically, politically or just in the field of human relations. From Rome to Athens and from Sofia to Bucharest the demands of the young Europeans become clearer and clearer. Thus, the establishment of a fair and impartial societal model is one of the biggest challenges for Europe nowadays.

And it's exactly on this dynamic and this change that the hope is pinned. "
"We don't reach the sky with a simple jump, but we build the stairs to reach", as Josiah-Gibbert Holland says. Europe has to accompany and to support this explicit wish for change.
Generation 112 would like to answer the Bulgarian author of the story, Hristo Smirlenski, by saying: Yes, Europe is concerned, too!"