Years ago, as I walked along one of the alleys that connects Kavaja Street with "Myslym Shyri" Street, at this time of year I would always gaze with wonder at a lilac climbing the wall of a private residence. One day, after I had contemplated it for a few moments as I was rushing to work, with the promise that when I returned, I would devote more time to it, they had uprooted it, along with the lilac's owner's apartment. Today, a rusty-colored mansion stands there.
It is not a single event in our Tirana. Every day, an angry hand of decision-makers is demolishing every corner of beauty and peace, to replace it with the urban noise of bunkers that they call towers or palaces. At the same time, they are daily uprooting the spirit of humanity and kindness, to instill the arrogance of crime.
As I walked through another of these alleys, which, by contrast, still preserve corners of kindness and gentleness, I saw the lilac creeper again. I captured it in a quick cellphone photo, so that it would remain a memory when another tall, noisy bunker takes its place.
