Almost 30 years ago, in 1989, the only violent Revolution in Eastern Europe toppled down one of the most brutal Communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain. With it, the Romanian people found themselves free, ready to embrace Western ideals of democracy, to join the European community and transition to a free-market economy. It did not take long, however, for the dreams of that freedom to be shattered. What seemed like a Revolution of the people quickly turned into something akin to a coup d’état, as the former Communist nomenklatura filled the Parliament, took reign over Government, and shattered any expectations of a peaceful and clean transition to democracy. Rather, democracy was just the superficial shape of things to come, rather than an actual change in people, their behavior and actions. It is in the background of this deception that I was born and raised for most of my life, living in a country with a cognitive dissonance at the national level, with a great gap between thoughts and actions, between projected ideals and realities. I was thankfully sheltered from many problems that many Romanians face. I was spared from extreme poverty, I have a loving and supporting family, and grace to their efforts, I was able to go to the Netherlands to study Liberal Arts. Nevertheless, seeing Romania transform so strongly in my years spend there has had a profound mark on me, as well as my understanding of life, how things transform, how people think, and how economic systems affect the relationships between each other. Thus, I’d like to share some of my hard-earned lessons, with love and respect from the East.

A sense of irony and of absurdity is vital for your mental health

Back in high school, I used to have a teacher focused on the social sciences, teaching Economy, Philosophy and the like. Now the thing is, in the educational system here, teachers can permanently become attached to a given high school, meaning that they are essentially hired for life, do not need to perform at all, and cannot be kicked out, no matter how deviant their behavior is. Our social sciences teacher was in our high school since before the fall of Communism, and as you might expect, he had quite the reputation. When in class, he would start explaining Kant’s philosophy. He first spoke in Romanian, then started speaking in English, and then moved to French. While this might sound bonkers, do consider that saying that what he was doing was bonkers would lead to you failing the class. His polyglot behavior in class was one thing, but when he would start writing on the whiteboard, the absurdity reached new heights. He would write an economic formula, and then over it, another formula, and over that one, another one. Suddenly, there were layers of indistinguishable formulas. He would then turn around, and with a calm smile, would ask “Do you understand, children?”. If you’ve been following the story so far, you know the correct answer was “Yes of course, that makes total sense!”. This is however, just one slice of the multitude of ironic and absurd things dominating Romania. Ironic is the demolition of most Communist factories, the “pride” of the nation, in order to build shopping malls. Yes, the same shopping malls that are now closing in the United States because people are moving to online shopping. See, in history classes we are taught that we are delayed historically compared to the West with some 50 years, so in that regard, it makes sense that only now have we tasted the sweet fruits of sweatshop workers from Bangladesh, whose work is neatly displayed in flashy windows around the malls in urban centers. Ironic is how our dream of joining the EU, which would lead to free movement of people, depopulated the country, with a rate of emigration per year only second to Syria, with 5 million Romanians living abroad, out of a total population of around 21 million. The sense of irony is strongly tied in these cases with a sense of tragedy, which is also equally important to acknowledge in order to healthily deal with these issues. After all, Romania is not that different from other countries going through similar issues. The importance of acknowledging irony, tragedy and absurdity comes in the form of better appreciating the multi-faceted aspects of life, no matter how painful they might be.

If you throw people who have been suppressed and poor for decades under an individualist capitalist system, many will turn savage

Street Scene, Bucharest

Poverty and lack of education, coupled with the aggressive capitalism that overtakes certain places, will lead to a superficial focus on status, a breakage of collaborative efforts and a focus on the self, rather than on the community. Romania has one of the largest rural populations in the European Union, with almost 50% of the population living in rural areas. The landscape has changed remarkably since the 90’s, with many large villas popping out, almost overnight. The issue is that many of these villas stand unfinished, and even if they were eventually finished, their owners would likely not have the funds to pay utilities. The reason why they are build is not as to actually have a house to live in. In many cases, it is simply about displaying social status. Many of the houses are build by Romanians working abroad in construction, and for them, building an oversized villa which they will never inhabit is about showing the members of their respective communities that they have made it, that they did not go in vain to Western Europe. This desire for status, of being perceived wealthy, even if it is far from the truth, has taken nation-wide proportions. It is enough only to look at the cars on the roads, with BMW’s being a preferred brand for those who wish to show off their value. Certainly, irony comes in again, as most of those BMW’s are bought second hand from Germany where they are no longer allowed because they no longer comply to air pollution regulations. I do not necessarily blame those who act as such for doing so. Many live lives of hardship, and I cannot accuse them of wishing to show others that they are successful. However, the issue here is education, not moral judgement. The Romanian investing his money in a villa that is simply for status is missing out on the myriad of ways in which he could invest that money wisely, in a way that is beneficial both for him, and his family.

When the state fails to provide basic services, there will be heroes working in silence

The Romanian state is in many ways, not that far off from being considered a failed state. The health-care system might kill you out of lack of resources and due to the general dirt and negligence of the hospitals, the educational system is completely detached from the fast-changing nature of our century, the infrastructure of the country is in shambles. The list can continue, but the point here is not complaining about problems. Complainers will be always. What is much more relevant, and certainly under-reported by media, is the doers. Those who, when seeing the mess around them, instead of giving up in a fatalist and nihilist attitude, choose to actually commit to providing what the state fails to provide. If there is any way to build a healthy democracy with civic engagement, stepping up where the state steps down are definitely one of the ways, in spite of all the hardships one might expect. And the list of doers and their domains of doing is as diverse as the list of problems. From architecture students striving hard to save the historical heritage of the country, to teachers who willingly educate and help their students, in spite of a lack of resources and support, to construction workers who go in the rural areas and build new houses for needy families, the list of heroes without capes has become increasingly big. And here lays one of the most important lessons. If everything is well, then there is no opportunity for growing. There is time for peace, but there is no learning in peace, rather only appreciation for it. Where there is conflict, where there is scarcity, where there is trauma, those are the places where nobility is born, humanity and life is affirmed, and where doers commit to their missions.

Transformation is the constant of life, so appreciate truly what is around you

Abandoned house in Bucharest

The 19 years spend in Romania were not an upward trend, but much more downwards. I saw what is dear to me getting increasingly decayed, neglected and transformed. If my childhood was filled with streets empty of cars, now there are so many cars everywhere that sometimes walking on the sidewalk becomes a challenge of finding in the first place, underneath all the parked cars. There are ads everywhere you look in places like the capital, Bucharest. I’ve seen historical buildings that were dear to me being demolished in order to build the newest, bland post-modernist apartment complex. I’ve seen the town of my grandparents increasingly turning into a ghost town, with 4 people living in a 20-unit apartment building. I won’t even start to discuss the rise of smartphones or AI and how they have changed how people interact, for this is at a global stage by this point. In any case, seeing so much being and then suddenly not being, seeming eternal and then transformed in minutes has been an important lesson. We cling on so hard to our memories, our nostalgia, of how things used to be. Those memories are, after all, a big part of what makes us, us. But there is something relieving in renouncing to that for a moment. To renounce the past is to accept the present, with all the light and dark it brings. And instead of daydreaming of how things used to be, a possibility opens up of transforming the present moment into something more desirable for ourselves, for the people in our lives, and for whatever matters to us. It is fine to dream of the past from time to time. Misguided is to dream so much of the past that we neglect the present.