National pride

Today I saw my father with a national flag. He bought one for him and another for one of my uncles, devising holders for them at work. I saw a flag displayed by the balcony of one of my neighbours too and another at a nearby house. I think it's weird. It's a new trend which makes me think that a new nationalistic passion is stirring up in these people. The upcoming elections must have reminded them of what's valuable for them. In the last few years Romanians chose to put aside that national pride which they had flaunted during the Communist era ( from obvious reasons- they didn't know much about the others, the country being closed like an enclave and because of propagandist directions). After this period when most of them were willing to leave the country easily in favour of brighter economical horizons, and many of them did, it seems the economical crisis and the impossibility to make more money elsewhere have awaken that national feeling and people started again using that phrase "Nowhere it's better than in your own country". It stands to reason that people are trying to find a reasoning for giving up the dream of getting rich in the west. No one wants to admit willingly they have no choice so they pretend they chose to stay home because of their national pride. There is no problem with this, as long that the frustration feeling is not focused on doing something reckless. I remember what happened with Germany after the second World War, when Hitler took advantage of the frustration feeling of the Germans who after losing the war had to pay retributions and went through a harsh crisis. I hope no charismatic wannabe will be smart enough to take advantage of this and guide the people to something dangerous. Of course, I don't like how the situation in Romania is now, but I don't want reckless actions either. I know well enough from previous experiences that we are too small to gain a battle against too large interested parties around, and even if we are lucky to ally with the victors, nobody will make us the favour of giving us something to get ahead.

nice

http://fotonicu.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/biserica-fortificata-de-la-biertan/

God's will

Changing channels last night I found an episode from Ally McBeal when she went in a confessional. That stirred me up in a bad way. I remembered my participation to the religious service in a catholic cathedral as a observer during my Master studies. Going there with several colleagues and a professor, we had to identify different behaviours After the class, one of my colleagues expressed her desire to go and experience the confession in one of the confessionals there. She presented herself first to the priest/ pastor (I don't remember the term) and asked if she could do that in spite of the fact that she was Orthodox. Afterwards she told us about the experience and even wrote a paper from that point of view. I remember fondly her initiative and her willingness to try different experiences, as part of her general joie de vivre. She was the daughter of an Orthodox priest form one of the villages from Northern Moldavia known for their religious traditions, so she had been raised in a very strict environment. Unfortunately, her very happy, energetic life ended a year later after graduating her Master degree in a car accident when she tried to go in front of a truck. She and her baby boy, who was with her in the car, died at once. Hearing about her death, I couldn't stop myself to think, in a clearly pessimistic Romanian way, that she had been to happy to live very long. There is a deeply rooted belief in Romania that geniuses and happy people can't have a long life - God isn't patient enough and demands their company very soon.