A couple of nights ago, a man from Motovun got beaten up by a man from a neighboring village. There is much gossip about the reason, but I will skip it here. It is quite irrelevant to my story, anyhow. Namely, I am of two minds about the beating. I do not like the man who got beaten up, and I am thus glad he got his lesson. But I am cross that he got beaten up by a stranger in Motovun itself, where his friends should have been by his side. Although very few people like the man on account of his brazen ways, I still feel cross about the whole thing because it took place in our own midst. Now, am I inconsistent? Are my feelings contradictory? That is, am I actually of two minds? Not at all, I reckon. My own feeling toward the man who got beaten up is personal, but my feeling about this happening on our, as it were, turf is tribal. Nobody from anywhere else should beat up anyone among us no matter how much we all dislike that person ourselves. On top of all this, I am sorry that not everyone in Motovun shares my tribal sentiments. Otherwise, the man who got beaten up a couple of nights ago would have gotten his lessons closer to home, as well as long ago. Sadly, our tribe has a long way to go.

Addendum (April 29, 2018)

So, who is the man behind this story? Klaudio Ivašić, of course. Over the years, the number of his friends in Motovun has dwindled to just a few, if any. And most of these friends are still on his side for political reasons only. Predictably enough, the Istrian Democratic Assembly provides one and only shield Klaudio has at this point in time. Famous for his brazen ways, though, he is likely to remain completely alone in the fullness of time. Not even local politics can shield a man like him for too long. And what was the reason for the beating? Apparently, Klaudio had an affair with a married woman working in one of his restaurants in the hilltown. Her husband got the whiff of it and did his best to bring the affair to a close. To the best of my knowledge, he was successful, too. Klaudio and his family spread the story that he had fallen down the stairs, which would account for all his bruises, but nobody believed this was the case. At any rate, the woman in question left the restaurant the next tourist season, and there is no trace of her any longer. Returning to my own sentiments, they remain the same. My own feelings about Klaudio aside, the beating should have been prevented. For what are tribes for but to protect their members from calamities of all descriptions? And this holds even for members of questionable status, as well.