Roses’Secret Life
(Original)

Zhivko Tomov Darakchiev
(Age 20, Bulgaria)
Veterinary School “Ivan Pavlov” Stara Zagora, Peshtera

It has been pouring with rain for several days. The window panes were shedding heavy tears. I was standing silent in my small office. I had been watching all sorts of TV programmes quite long and I finally made up my mind that my television would be of another kind – somehow different, unfamiliar. Probably I would go bankrupt but I thought it was worth the risk. I immediately organised a conference and all employees of this “newly-born- mass media baby” came to the big hall at the appointed hour. They were all staring at me eager to find out what a task I would give to them. I was short and explicit but at the end of the meeting they all looked more than worried and confused.

A few weeks and the television looked nothing of the kind.

Knowing that the kingdom of creativity reigns over people’s minds I decided not only to burden the viewer’s minds with tons of mental information but also to show them how beautiful peace could be. It was high time people saw the other side of the coin and understood that peace was neither an illusion, nor another mirage in our world.

The News was not just the News any more – it became the Good News.

All sorts of positive deeds, bravery and beautiful hues from the everyday life were reported on it. The reporters were revealing the faces of the most polite and cheerful people in this world, who filled the news with their beautiful and unforgettable deeds.

The Hot News became not the news of murders but those of moments of commitment and selflessness in the name of the others, in the name of goodness and love among people.

Daily the different programmes broadcast various debates related to all types of discrimination and injustice. We made the viewers not only watch but also sense the pain of those who had become victims of different sorts of  iniquity.

Huge popularity had one of the programmes in which we made enemies become friends. People who had spent years not talking to one another and despising each other became friendly. Behind that programme stood a team of outstanding psychologists and the effect was really stunning. Myriads of viewers’ letters came to us. They all wanted to be a part of the show and finally embrace their recent enemies. It was amazing!

I was perfectly aware that if one wanted to sense the world peaceful and calm they had to be calm themselves. For this reason we regularly played music that was pleasant, with aesthetic videos or in other words, the way I call it – music for the soul.

Nature was constantly present in our TV programmes, too. Every TV day we presented mountains, seas and other natural elements that would always help our viewers relax in the dynamic everyday life. And all this for the very reason that people become better when they are in the Nature. We made our viewers feelcloser to Nature though only through the TV screen.

The culmination was the films that we showed and they had been picked after a careful selection. Cautionary, touching and unforgettable were they. These were productions that showed the world the way it is and the way it should be – the world in people’s dreams, those dreams that some had already forgotten about. These films were the key that unlocked the doors of faith in a peaceful world. With all these films we made the viewer reconsider life in a wiser way, laugh out and feel the real beauty of existence.

Did I go bankrupt?

On the contrary, the ratings of this television reached record levels of popularity. And the expressions of gratitude came over and over. These were some of the greatest days in my life.

However, alike everything else in this world even the most beautiful things come to an end. At once everything vanished. My amazing television and the viewers’ smiles remained in the sleep. My dream had been reshaping the space of the sleep throughout the whole night and in the morning everything melted away.

The only thing left was the hope that some day the dream would become reality. I hoped that at a certain time in the future the Mass media would understand that its power could create miracles for it is exactly the mass media that brings up our contemporary society and people trust in it.

If one has never seen even a single rose, how could they know how beautiful these flowers are indeed?

Peace is alike the rose unseen and only the Mass media can reveal its glamour.

One understands the world the way it is explained to them. If constantly the bad side of existence is shown, then one would follow it for certain. But if one is shown how many wonderful people live in this world and how great it is to be a REAL MEN, one will definitely get the desire to become such.

Peace is above all cultivation of the mind”says Pope John Paul II. For the triumph of peace it is necessary the splendour of its power to be revealed. And who could better teach this lesson than the Mass media?