The Border

Although he did not know what a symbol, metaphor, comparison and the like were, he had one figure he knew well; he had been twisting between great paradoxes that took away his life and at times made him choke in that middle.

… Among us there is no tolerance, the tolerance of winners toward losers and the respect of losers toward winners… that is why I have lost faith, I fear that instead of a state we will create a "shqiptarhane".

… If you do not pretend to go to the mosque or observe Ramadan, in a word, you do not do what everyone does, then you are outside the register. Even if you are a great professor, a great doctor, even more so a great psychologist, even if you win the Nobel Prize, you are outside the register, period. Even if Picasso or Einstein lived here, they would certainly be outside the register. Therefore you must pretend like everyone else. The professor plays the role of the politician, the politician the role of the hodja, the hodja the role of the psychologist, the doctor the role of the pharmacist and the pharmacist the role of the doctor, and so, improvising everything, our life revolves within the set borders…

… And the only solution: the golden bullet… then "Tung, there is no more!"

… Our lives were divided where responsibilities began, and joined where the soul took hold.

LATIF AJRULLAI (1956–2020) was the founder and president of the publishing house ALBAS. Graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Chemistry and with postgraduate studies in Pharmacy, he worked for many years as a professor before devoting himself fully to publishing. With vision and dedication, together with his partner, the poet Rita Petro, he created a publishing network that brought texts and books in Albanian to all Albanian lands and to the diaspora. Mr. Ajrullai is known for his innovative role in digitizing school textbooks through the "Albas School Portal" and for founding the modern printing house Deaprint. He will be remembered as a visionary intellectual, a dedicated publisher and a tireless supporter of Albanian education and knowledge.