Letter from the Editor
The information that Serbs are the third tallest people in the world—after the Dutch
and Montenegrins—did not surprise me. However, when I recently read that Serbs are
the nation with the highest self-esteem, I was very surprised, and it made me think.
This was concluded based on a joint investigation carried out by Bradley University in Illinois and the University of Tartu in Estonia, which interviewed around 17,000 people across 53 cultural groups, and was published in 2005 in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The same study indicated that Serbs are among the top 10 cultural groups most oriented towards collectivism. Unlike societies that foster individualism, groups more oriented towards collectivism are more focused on fulfilling group goals and more focused on the community, society and nation. In individualistic societies, individuals are lonelier compared to those in collectivist societies. Many believe that life is easier in collectivist societies rather than individualistic ones, although this is of course a question of personal feeling and opinion.
The results of this study might conflict with what we ourselves think about ourselves, particularly if we believe that we are not united. One time, I met a Jewish man. When he heard that I was from Serbia, he commented, “You guys are great at socializing!” Under certain circumstances and to a certain extent, it is true that we might not be united, but in any case it is not true that we are distant. This is particularly the case in the diaspora, where Serbs are connected through cultural-artistic groups, church, professional organizations, sports clubs, fundraisers, and theatre and musical groups. SAN is here to write about these organizations, as well as about deserving and successful individuals in the Serbian community of North America.
With its new website (sanmagazine.ca) SAN has become globally accessible. Our goal in the next little while is to make the content of the website more global, and to write more about Serbs in all of North America and more broadly about Serbs in the whole world. Considering that the majority of our journalists are from Toronto—along with correspondents in New York, Alberta, and Quebec—we are looking for correspondents from other parts of Canada and the United States. If you live somewhere else in another part of the word, and you would like to become a collaborator, write to us at sanmagazinecontact@gmail.com.
In this autumn edition of SAN, read the interview with Boris Malagurski, director and political commentator from Serbia. You will find two seemingly contradictory articles—one about the best hamburgers in Toronto, and the other about a meatless diet. When you read both articles, you will realize that they are not contradictory, but rather that they can be harmonized by adopting a new diet direction—flexible vegetarianism, or so called flexitarianism. Last issue, we introduced a puzzle section, which would be particularly interesting to young people who want to perfect their Serbian in a fun way. And finally, I would like to particularly highlight an article about teenage addiction to electronics, written by our youngest journalist currently, through his teenage lens.
Toronto, September 2018
Vesna Nedić, Editor
Note: SAN Magazine invites its readers to send in their letters and comments, articles, photographs, illustrations, stories, and poems in Serbian. All letters and works must be signed with the author’s full name, address, and phone number. The editing team at SAN reserves the right to edit and shorten all written work, as well as to choose not to publish. The author retains his/her copyrights, and the magazine reserves the right to publish any works in print or electronic form. You can send any works to sanmagazinecontact@gmail.com.