On December 23, a post appeared in the Panevėžys city municipality’s social networks in front of the bodies of the deceased, in which the mayor rewards the head of the fire rescue board.
This post surprised R. Survilaitė, she spoke about it on social networks.
“This Christmas Eve, I’m coming to talk about humanity again, because I can’t help but react, because it hurts to see the highest level of cynicism, which others don’t seem to notice and everything is fine for others here. So while you are lazily scrolling through your Facebook feed after cozy dinners with your loved ones, I’ll point my finger at what hurts, what neither my mind nor my heart can understand. There was a tragic drowning in Panevėžys recently three young men:
Mantas Salikas (2005–2025)
Erikas Guiga (1995–2025)
Remigijus Strielkauskas (1994–2025)
Starting today, you can say goodbye to them at the Šeduva mourning house. I did not know the dead, but what I see leaves me stunned and speechless. While the three families are mourning their loved ones, the officials are sharing thank-you notes and smiling at the cameras on the internet, because, understand, they did a very good job. Algirdas Rudys, the head of the Panevėžys Fire Rescue Board, brought a piece of paper to the Mayor of the Panevėžys City Municipality, Loretai Masiliūniene, and both of them were very nice and proud of their leadership and initiatives in carrying out rescue work (link in the comment).
Not wanting to diminish the contribution of any rescuer, not wanting to say that rescuers are not worthy of thanks and respect, I still want to ask: WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? I ask until such a question arises, not until I understand, because it is impossible to understand this if you have at least a shred of humanity and at least minimal sensitivity to the context.
What is wrong with us that it is okay for us to score political points in the face of tragedy and smile at the lens with paper in hand, when the relatives of three young men are sitting not at tables but in the armory this Christmas Eve?
A person’s worth is not measured by what he has, but by what he is.
Albert Einstein
So keep those thank you notes of yours. And I will simply remain unable to comprehend all this and unable to remain silent when sympathy and compassion are exchanged for political red tape with a worthless red tape that means you are cool. Only from the other end.
I wanted to add that the bodies weren’t cold yet, but I’d be lying. It got cold in the river. Maybe you can enjoy yourself, cut a cake, blow up balloons. Anyway, thank goodness there were no fireworks. And since you want a PR so much, I’ll make it too. It’s true that my audience is modest, barely 10,000, but it’s still there,” Rūta wrote.
People.lt reminds that on Saturday morning, around 7:00 a.m., in Panevėžys, on Vakarinė street, a BMW car broke through the road barriers and ran into the Nevėžio river.
According to initial data, there could be three people in the car. Later, the Fire Protection and Rescue Department (PAGD) reported that two drowned people were found, and around 2 p.m. the body of a third person was also found in the river.
