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Tin Cetic (15-09-1990 - 02-10-2010) |
Tin Cetic had a Renaissance mind, unsurpassed in writing, drawing, music, mathematics, logic and philosophy. In addition, he had an irresistible urge to find original path in all things. This went so far that once in middle school he got an F on a math test just because he was firmly convinced that the algorithm that he 'invented" was correct! He also has long refused to read books of famous writers, constantly trying to explain it would adversely affect the creativity and originality of his ideas. It was imperative to him to be original! He had another phenomenal characteristic: he worked tirelessly and continuously days, nights, years.... He did not like to eat. He never liked school. Tin considered both a waste of time. He ate only to survive and he went to school because someone else is decided so.
Tin thought he could learn everything that they taught him in school with only ten percent of the time that they used actually used. This included university. Nevertheless, he was a brilliant student. I guess he wanted to make parents happy, and inside he has always felt the weight of the absurdity of all that. He was much more interested in the meaning of the universe, existence and life within it. Tin researched an awful lot and tirelessly the further he went the less he liked what he's discovered. He could not accept that the established system of living demanded incredible cruelty in relation to each other living species in the process of survival. Tin felt, as he himself once said, that he walks through this world in the unbearable tight shoes. He was trying to find meaning in various ways: in creating music, writing, drawing, screenwriting, programming... Tin dremt of becoming the director, screenwriter and musician for his own movie. He was full of extraordinary ideas for movies and has long worked on them. Even as a boy he made several animated games and went into the secrets of animation, video and audio editing... He realized very early that people are lazy and want to survive in the simplest possible way, mostly by eating, drinking and not seeking a challenge and motivation in anything outside the ordinary routine of life. In spite of this he found a way to love the people around him and they all loved him. Everyone regarded him as very good and kind man.
I feel that Tin was something special and strange while he was still quite small, when he just began to walk. He was less than a year old, and went into the bathroom and began to pull toilet paper, as cats often do. I was angry because he certainly did not want to stop, just mischievously and defiantly continuing to draw paper. I finally took a small and flexible twig and hit his leg. He didn't flinch even though I know it should hurt. After that I was even madder and I hit him harder. The hit left the marks on his leg. Again there was absolutely no reaction to pain. At that point I was scared and thought that there were no nerves in the legs! I know from personal experience that it hurts like hell, but he felt nothing. Afterwards, I concluded that he must have a nerve, because he could walk. After that we took him to all possible examinations and everything was quite normal. A similar situation is repeated at the dentist in Zagreb. By the end I was fascinated by his supernatural ability to control pain. Each new day brought his extraordinary thinking and reactions in various situations. All these are recorded in a sort of diary, which we named Sandro and Tin's pearls, and even then we thought that there will be a day when we will want to publish it into a book.
I could go on for hours and hours enumerating unusual and fascinating events about Tin. He became my pride, fulfillment of all possible desires and hopes that parents can imagine, the person with whom I most loved to talk... He only had enough energy and determination to go to end. Every time I was astonished and amazed by his ideas, observations and conclusions. I was always surprised with his brilliant mindset. He became my obsession. Once I told him when he turned seven:
- Tin, you're my entire world!
Quietly he just commented:
- Well, that world of yours is not so especially interesting!
Never, not at any point, did it come to my mind that his power of reasoning and analysis could take him to the absurdity of life and existence that it did. I knew he was a person with an idealized view of moral norms. Finally, are all normal human beings in their teenage years idealists? Certainly, but our Tin went much further than that, for example, in relation to women. I was constantly telling him that he would not get married to the first girl that he starts dating. I tried to explain that he must gain some experience with girls, must be patient, the girls that he dreams about are only small number in this world, and that he should wait for a while to meet that princess. Firstly, he only wanted to ask a girl out if he had true feelings for her, not just feelings of lust. He considered what other people do immoral. Secondly, he is always rushing. For some reason he felt that everything needs to happen a lot faster than it normally would. And third, the girl of his dreams only exists in his imagination or waiting for him somewhere in an unknown place. His older brother Sandro began to date girls when he was twelve. My wife Radmila and I are just waiting for the day when Tin will fall in love. We both thought that mother Earth will shake at that time from overwhelming excitement and happiness. However, it never happened. Tin was less than twelve when wrote the poem "A Wish", which was probably written as a prophecy of his fate in love.
Whatever I write further about my younger son cannot and will not invoke his peculiarity and greatness better than what he created and left behind. That's why I recommend everyone view the links on this page, I tried to sort it so that it is easier to find what you find what you are interesting in. Unfortunately, I must add that Tin eventually deleted all the files from his computer. That means that we probably lost a lot of his work, especially in the last few years. The only things preserved are what is placed online, or some things that he sent to friends.
Finally I want to briefly state Tin's basic biographical information. He was born in September 1990 in Bihac - Bosnia, on a melancholy fall, to me the most lovely of all seasons. He went to kindergarten in Zagreb in 1995, and continued in the same year in San Diego, California. He also completed elementary, middle and high school in San Diego. Two years he spent in Ehrenberg, a small town on the Colorado River, at the border between states California and Arizona He studied film and then computer since at the University of California, San Diego. He stopped in his third year when one early morning on Saturday 2, October 2010 he decided to leave this world. He jumped from the fifteenth floor of the Marriott Hotel, La Jolla. I'm sure he felt no pain and that he believed that he will go where he always belonged and wanted to be. So, that is how I lost "my entire world"