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“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.”
In my younger and more vulnerable years I was very patriotic. I was convinced that Romania is one of the greatest countries in the world. There is a common thing any foreigner sees when meeting Romanians: they all complain and say how much they hate Romania. This is so obvious that one of my foreign business partners thinks that he would get wealthy instantly if only he could monetize this intense feeling. For years now I’m trying to understand why this happens – and I think I finally got it. Also, it applies to many other East European countries as well.
Propaganda and the school.
Every country is good at making up for itself a great history out of any sort of past. The history offers local models, heroes, patterns we identify with. Being a part of something great makes you great. When someone tries to take that greatness away you fight back. You defend your country because it has made you great as well, by association. This is a very simple way of turning weak people into strong weapons. We all feel the need to be part of something bigger. For many it’s the preferred football team or religion – and you can see the extreme manifestations of that. We even have Jane Elliot’s Exercise to prove how simple it is to turn people against each other based on shallow beliefs of superiority.
Romanians got their part of great historical achievements from their own history books. History is written by winners to justify the past and secure the future. The last big winners in Romania were the communists, and they wrote the current version of our history.
To see the people’s superior view of their own country and how inferior neighboring countries are – please visit http://www.urbandictionary.com and search for Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Poland and so on. You will see people cheering the great things making their country the best in the world – such as Ukraine’s great cossacks army, which kicked everyone’s ass in the 18th century. No one aside from actual Ukrainians really cares about this propagandist achievements, but they serve their purpose.
The communist dream
Westerners usually think that in communist countries people were all mean, red and busy working on their plan to conquer the world. Obviously, this is not true. The communist regime sold a dream in which the fight for freedom and a better life were basic duties. Sounds familiar? You get the same thing in many other capitalist countries. They sold the utopian idea of an egalitarian system, where all the people have a job, a house and enough money to live a decent life. Take away the egalitarian part and those are all ideas you hear in each election campaign. After tens of years of communism people forgot what started the ideology, were born in the new utopian system, and along the way got intoxicated with their country’s huge role in world history.
The communist regimes proved their inefficiency – mostly because they lacked a free market, not necessarily because of the politics (China, anyone?). Still, people were born and raised in that social and political ecosystem. They were prepared to live the dream. It had a basic promise: Be a good citizen, respect your country and regime, work just like the others and you will live a good life (job, house, enough money for the family, good schools for the children etc).
The broken promise
After more than 40 years, the Russian-inspired communist regimes collapsed in the 90′s. The dream had become a nightmare in the 80′s, with people struggling to get food and praying for water and electricity. Having a planned economy, pushing controllable non-values in key positions and closing the borders proved fatal.
In the 90′s, intense movements occurred in ex-communist countries. Moving to a capitalist economy was a lot harder than people initially expected. The only ones prepared for the new way of doing business and making money were the few that had ties to foreign markets – the important people in communist years. The new capitalists were the former communists, not just in business, but in politics, administration and so on.
Taking advantage of turbulent times, those that had the international opening and the local connections got very rich, very fast. Regular people, who expected capitalism to treat them right, were in for a big surprise. Liberty and democracy did not translate into jobs and enough money. Huge overnight inflation and collapsing industries lead to unemployment. People had the foreign products they wanted, but no jobs and no money. Back to a new, democratic form of nightmare!
The secret key
We had learned that we are part of a great country – our history said so. People were born in the communist utopia of freedom and enough means for everyone to live a happy life – the old promise.
The communist regime did not work; it collapsed when people rose up to achieve real freedom through capitalism and democracy – the new promise.
But the new capitalists were the old communists. The money went to the old guys. Hard working people found themselves lacking jobs and basics means of life. Many started bemoaning the communist regime and the dictators – at least things got done and people had jobs and housing. Some still think that 20 years later.
The basic problem is the broken promise – Be a good, hard working citizen and get a good life! It was broken by the communists and then it was broken again by capitalists. This can be explained by the fact that there was never a new society, just the old one with a new face. People did not get “capitalism training”. They did what they were taught and got nothing in return. It was impossible for most of them to change jobs or get new skills. Work productivity and efficiency were new concepts. There was no party to push, no government to provide jobs, houses, fixed salaries. All these aspects were speculated by populist politicians and eventually made common folks even poorer.
Why Romanians hate Romania today
The general impression, based on tons of facts, is that the scum got rich, while the working man got screwed over by the new democracy. The old communist class preserved its advantages. Thieves, complete opposite of the working man, became the nouveau riche. Old principles like hard work, honesty, good education became ingredients of the recipe for a life of starving and trying to make ends meet.
You can be successful by doing the exact opposite – this seems to be the idea. Just that the opposite is against everything you have learned while growing up. This dissonance is partly the root of hate.
After gaining the liberty to travel and experience the life and culture of other countries another huge difference strikes RomaniansOurs isn’t the greatest country in the world. Nobody heard about our brave soldiers, or how we defended Europe from the Turks in the Middle Ages. Nobody calls Bucharest “the small Paris,” except Romanians. We’re under-dressed. We’re not prepared to live in civilized conditions.
There is a huge difference between Western European countries and Eastern ones. Even Hungary, Romania’s traditional source of ethnic conflict, looks and is a lot more civilized and evolved. So we’re not great, we’re a lot less than that. This builds up into extra frustration for every Romanian. You can either get deeper and deeper in the historic Romanian supremacy and get mocked or ignored or embraced by other ultra-nationalists. Or you can go the other, more common, way: Get disappointed and lose consideration for your country because you see it all as a big fat lie.
Gypsies were the first to travel abroad. They were soon followed by many low-income people looking for jobs abroad, along with all sorts of evil doers. This created a simple association in the minds of Europeans – Romanians are gypsies, beggars, thieves, low-lives in general. Not a very good association for educated youngsters who travel to discover the world. This brings us to a third good motive to avoid any association with being Romanian and to badmouth your country.
So, there are three huge gaps:
- The difference between what Romanians thought of themselves and the current state of things
- The difference between the values that they grew up with and those that seem to actually produce results
- The difference between what they aspire to be and what they are seen as
These are the reasons for which Romanians hate Romania. Just ignoring the fact that we are Romanians would be enough if it wasn’t for the 3rd reason, the frequent association between low-lives, criminals, and Romanians. This makes most of the people speak badly about Romania constantly – at home and abroad.
What’s the solution? Well: fixing history, waiting for millions of people to evolve, waiting for social justice, rearing new generations of people without our historical baggage – impossible things in general. In the end, you are left with a sad reality and a lot of explaining to do in the face of biased foreigners.
Still, preconceived opinions about Romania and Romanians are common just in Europe. In the US (due to visa regulations and general remoteness) or in other countries (due to distance) we have not exported enough bad elements to create generalized prejudice. So, as a rule, there’s no need to complain too much about Romania, even if you don’t like it, because people have no idea whether things are good or bad.
In the end, there isn’t a simple solution to cure the hate against your country. I’d say that badmouthing anything is bad for you. Inflated compliments are equally bad on the long term. I try to be as balanced as possible and keep unpleasant feelings at bay. At least I’m happy that I came up with this very lengthy explanation on why Romanians hate Romania ;-)
July 7 2010, Bucharest ROMANIA
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Off topic: I was wondering when were you going to add a new post to your new blog :)
On topic: I’m afraid things go a little deeper than those 3 issues you have identified. Just take a long look at our not so recent history (the one with no communist make-up on it, you can find it in the old romanian newspapers from back in the late 1800s and early 1900s) … I think you’re in for a surprise: the mood is pretty much the same, even though there weren’t any communists involved.
I guess my point is that there really is something wrong with us as a nation, but we do perform pretty darn well when taken out of our usual “romanian ways”. -
Hi Dragos,
First, let me congratulate you for this “very lengthy explanation on why romanians hate Romania ;-)”.
In my opinion you are as right as anyone can be, seeing that you are trying to psychoanalyze roughly 30 million people, whose frustrations have accumulated over as much as 50 years or so… ;)
But the truth is there is no single answer, nor a structured one.
For some Romanians (even most, I dare say), the broken promises are reason enough to bare a grudge against their country.
For others, such as myself, we can’t talk about hatred, but no love either, because, let’s face it… What has my country done for me?
What have I done for my country? you might ask…
I have done some things, little things, but I am less and less encouraged to do even these little things, because the feedback is absent, or poor at best…
Besides this, experience has taught me a couple of things, amongst which two of very high importance to the subject at hand…
One, hatred breeds hatred, consciously or subconsciously, that’s why even young Romanians, who haven’t yet had the chance to experience real life in Romania, hate its guts…
The second, tied to the question I’ve asked above (What have you done for your country?) – we each get the country we deserve, the politicians we deserve, the managers we deserve so on and so forth…
Earlier, when I was talking about poor or absent feedback, it wasn’t the State, the Government or the authorities I was expecting feedback from, it was us – the People.
Thus, my theory unfolds: hate for one’s country is equal to hate for one’s self…
I don’t want my comment to exceed your lengthy explanation ;), but let’s ponder this concept for a second: if we don’t support each other, if we don’t provide each other with feedback, if we don’t acknowledge good and banish evil, aren’t we the ones to blame for the lack of quality in our lives?
Cheers,
Mihai Alex.You can also catch me on Twitter @smihaialex
PS: I have a confession to make: I’m leaving Romania, permanently, the very first chance I get! and that’s my ultimate feedback to you all… ;-)
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Get as far as you caan :-) i mean it.
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Nicely said! For most of the people what you describe in this post is right. But I know that deeply in our hearts most of us (yes, I am Romanian) love Romania. Even if I thought many times about leaving Romania and go live some place else (witch is still possible), I always have in mind that this is the place where I want to succeed, and help others accomplish the same thing.
A second idea that I have in mind lately is that the borders and the nationality doesn’t matter as much as it use to, looking at it from the “getting wealthy” perspective, now that we have the internet, that in less than 15 years change the way we communicate, make businesses, etc.
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Great perspective on how things work around here, Dragos.
The irony is although you’ve emphasized everything that’s wrong about how Romania is and how Romanians are perceived, your writing this is truly patriotic :D
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I couldn’t agree with you more. Good luck outside!
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Although I partially agree with your proposed theory, I believe that, whatever the full answer about why Romanians hate Romania would be, there is still no justification for why do Romanians, even if they leave the country (temporarily or not), still need to work on destroying the public image of Romania by bad-mouthing about it.
Even in the developed Western countries there are citizens who have lost faith in their country or who disagree with their politics or philosophy or things happening in the country or whatever. Still, you don’t hear them complaining about their country whilst abroad. They are actually very proud of their country although they understand that nothing is perfect.
However, Romanians leave the country because they feel they do not get anything in return for their work or that they are mistreated (all feelings that I have also experienced) but then they go in other countries and are just as bad as the people they ran from when they start “washing their laundry in public”.
Maybe we can find somebody else (such as the state, communists etc) to blame for how Romania has turned out and maybe even we can justify some of this “hatred”, but we are definitely to blame for not working on decreasing the third gap that you mentioned – how we are perceived by others should be closer to how we desire to be perceived… -
Dear Romanians. In 1998 we went from Denmark by bus to Romania. We only new a little about the country and with a lot of problems with the vehicle, the customers and very delayed, we thought that it would be the first and the last time we went there. But we fell in love, with a country, the nature the people hurt by the communist time, the history, the food the hospitality and the friendly people. From that time we always had a plan for the next trip to Romania. We have been north, south, east west in big towns and out in the country side. And this year, after fighting 1 year with the bureaucracy we have bought a house and a land, you beleive: we own a piece of Romania;.) and we are happy in love with our place in a small village. We always think : how can we make life better for just 1 romanian or better for more romanians. We always tell everyone we meet nice things about romanians and Romania.
I could write many pages about my thoughts about the problems in Romania, but i would only tell you that there are some people around who see the values in you and your country
Love to everybody from a dane -
silly propoganda, the majority of romanian’s are proud of their latin heritage. the romanians have bought much to the world. the author of this article should be fined for treason
Re: I approved this comment just because it is funny and it confirms part of the theory
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Well, I believe you when you say that many people feel hate for Romania. However, i think you’ll find that the ‘hate’ gets stronger the closer you get to that piece of shit city you call a capital. Who can’t be disgusted by stray dogs, beggars and the overall general ruin that the public services are in.
There is a way to change all of these things, and it wouldn’t take much number 1, stop fearing the dirty little gypsies and tell them to get off the streets and find something more productive to do, i don’t mind so much the ones that are actually selling something, but if they’re selling something they should have a business license and pay the same obligatory business tax as the rest of us.
Number two – you don’t make Euro, a school teacher makes at maximum 1200 RON a month. police officer makes RON, an office worker Makes RON and everyone in the country makes RON. stop pretending you use euro, you know how to use euro, or that you even know what the euro is. any business that charges EURO i will guarantee you is making up their price by no less than 5 X the wholesale value of everything. So stop using the word Euro. You have not been accepted into the monetary union yet, so stop pretending you have been.
and Finally, if a good honest person really want to make themselves a good amount of money while living in Romania. Use your creativity, there are so many opportunities for new technology, web services, mobile advertising, software development and outsourcing services. Exploitation creates jobs. That is a true capitalistic attitude, the real way to make money is through the production of new salable ideas and items that cost near nothing to produce. This includes anything that can be made using little to no resources or cheap / free resources. I’ve seen some of the most creative new eco technologies from Romanian You Tuber showing what can be built from old television sets, an entire solar array. Awesome, way to prove they work
Build some from the old TV’s laying around and sell them for 1/2 price that American companies charge for Solar panels. all of a sudden you’re rich. Oh but, you might have to do some work to achieve this, and make changes in your life… which is truly what everyone in the world is afraid of. Not just Romanians
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So we should stop using the euro, even if we import 80% of what we consume from the EU, tell gypsies to get off the streets and pay taxes for all the bananas and socks they sell, create web 2.0 crap and sell it to other people who create web 2.0 crap and to the people who build solar panels out of old TV sets, cause they’re the only people who would actually have jobs, and all our problems will be solved.
Of course there’s a lot we could do, but maybe after we’re all completely sold out to the IMF, EU and foreign banks. We’re almost there :D
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You should absolutely stop Charging Euro. my post directed its focus on a great number of previous posts. The people were ranting about all of these things above.
I personally love Romania.
The country is strong, good willed and proud.
But ditch the euro… its going to roll back on you. in a big way.
Oh, and when the euro goes down 40 cents… that means prices for all the crap you buy in euro and sell at stores should also go down in price. by no less than 40 cents. yes free market, but be fair to people too. There are many people on pension here, and many people who need work.
using the euro within the borders of romania will hurt the people of this country, very much in the long run.
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We hate many countries and for lots of reasons. And we hate ours most mainly because we know it best. We live here and face lots of uncomfortable situations like pollution, low life standards, low income, bad mannered people and so on.
Not sure if we need to go too deep into our history or into the educational system to search for a reason why we hate ourselves that much. We go outside, see better things than those back home, and we’d like to identify with those new civilized things we see out there, so we bash everything about what make us Romanians.
We’re kinda ashamed of being the way we are and we try to justify ourselves by blaming somebody else or something else. I personally see it as a natural consequence of the civilization gap that’s between us and them, out there, in the West. We’re just individuals caught in between countries and cultures.
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I found your article very interesting. I am from the United States and am travelling to Romania in October to hike the Fagaras Mountains andcheck out a country that not many people in the US knows about. I am interested in different cultures and it seems like right now your country is going through a lot of change. It should be an interesting trip. I was hoping to check out a Romanian band called Phoenix. I don’t know where to look to see if they are playing anywhere though.
Re: More on them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsylvania_Phoenix – try searching for the concerts a month or two earlier, nothing comes up now.
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There’s no concert planned for October yet. They don’t quite communicate online, so there isn’t a way to know if something comes up, other then offline media. I know the guys in the band, and if you drop me a line at iulianwashere @ gmail . com i’ll email you if a gig comes up around that period.
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As an Englishman that has lived and worked in Romania since 2007 I think you have written an excellent article that captures many of the issues your Country faces.
When I stood in Bucherest at midnight on 31 Dec 2006 with my Wife life was full of promise and hope, yet today I see a Country the continues to offer great potential yet manages to deliver so little.
Regrettably without a fundemental step change in mindset this looks like it will continue to be the case.
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rar comentez articole (din lene) dar this one is sooooooooo good. Bravo Dragos, keep it up.
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Excellent article! As a young Romanian, I can tell you that it is very important to truly understand the causes that have led to the present situation Romania is in.
I, for one, have ceased complaining about this country, and started being a person of whom no one complains. After all, it’s the people we complain about, not the country itself.
I also have to say that I will leave Romania as soon as the opportunity presents itself, because I don’t think I can truly accomplish my dreams here. -
Let me tell you why we hate romania:
Our president is as corrupt as he can be
The taxes are so high that some can’t even buy food for theyr children anymore.
Nobody dose nothing for us,they don’t even care
The presient himself announced that if the doctors are not satisfied,they should just leave.And so they did. I’ll make a whole list and return ! -
I am Romanian and I don’t hate my country :)
I hate aspects about it, for sure…but I would never ever go abroad and show my frustrations to ppl that have vener experienced it for themselvs.
But sadly I know a lot of Romanians who do so… :(I have met Jamaicans, Dominicans, Brazilians, Thais… (living in conditions 10 times as miserable as us today) who never complain about their countries and only have wonderful things to say about them!
And also I know other Romanians who love Romania – for what it is, for what u described above (nicely put, by the way) and not out of ultra-patriotism and brainwasing shallow historical values!I am young, graduated from a Romanian Univ couple years ago, got a decent job for myself..but yes, struggling with the systems and having all types of complains! But I am happy with what I learnt, the ppl I met, the education that was offered to me and what I have become.
I would like to signal to *eve* that he/she is free to never return here and keep the whole list for hiself/herself.
Or maybe come back and candidate for the perfect president…or just stop expecting that things fall of the sky and that others should do/care about us!
And also, I would like to mention to *Dale* that I’m currently living in our “shit capital city” for 6 years and I don’t find it as shity as he imagines…but we mainly see the outside world as a refcections of our souls/inside!
I wonder what he would think ab India :)
I have been shortly living in New York City and there were stray rats, tons of beggars and yes, better services indeed, but worth a shit load of money…of course everyone smiles there when they rip the skin out of you :)
But I don’t indend to stay in Bucharest for the rest of my life…of course other cities are better and more interesting to explore now, for my restless explorer young soul.
I am finally moving abroad because I want to learn the world with my own eyes, but not because Romania is shitty…I dream about living for some years in 3rd world countries such as S America and even Africa!I don’t wanna be a part of capitalism..not the fake one, which still dresses communist cloths nowdays here, as u perfectly described it – but not the one of the US neither!!!
I got to the conclusion that there is no perfect system in the world for me…not yet! So I’m left with looking for the rets of my life….Yes, it’s the ppl who we should complain about, not the country its self…and we are part of that ppl, weather we like it or not! Nations get the rullers they deserve….
So even if we are leaving from “shit”…let’s not throw shit back to it and make it even more impossible to clean!
I wish u all find ur peace and place in the world that makes u happy indeed…but first of all, look inside ur souls, clean there…and then move on!
Respect,
Anca -
Pingback from Dragos Manac [.biz] · Burn thy ships! on December 31, 2010 at 17:16
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Romania’s problem is people like you and politicians who feel the need to adhere to the trend of making fun of everything that represents your country
Re: I fail to see the “making fun” part of what I wrote, but I accept your judgment.
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Servus Dragos,
Your article name must be : “Why part of Romanians hate Romania.”
I love Romania and when I travel outside of Romania I just wait to go back. Do you know why ? Because is my home. Is impossible to hate your home.
My Romania is beautiful like them USA, Swiss, Germany, Denmark …
Do you know why is so beautiful my Romania ?
Because I love it ;)
La multi ani !-
Servus Dragos, salut Dan,
La multi ani !
I would like to bring an extra argument for the title proposed by Dan: I am living abroad since several years and, being in contact with many Romanians, I estimate that most of those who have a new home do not hate Romania. They rather see it with its qualities and its defects.
Best regards from Zürich,
Cosmin
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Lengthy indeed. Dar cum îți explici faptul că românii își urăsc neamul de mult de tot înaintea comunismului?
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I agree with Anca and I wish to give a lengthy reply. I could write for ages on this topic.
I just finished reading your article and it looked good at first but by the end of it I got really mad. I wish people would stop expecting Romania to be perfect, to do perfectly in 20 years what others have managed to do after 100. We compare our country with the United Kingdom, with the US and Germany and France. Why? What are the similarities between Romania and these countries? When have we ever been a great world power, when have we ever had colonies and slaves to build our mighty country upon? Din anyone ask India what its contribution was to the high and mighty Gret Britain and any Thank You Note was received from the Queen? Remember the French, Spanish, Portuguesse colonies? No? Well, I do. I wonder always hoe would North America be and how the entire planet would look if only the Native Americans hadn’t been reduced to being and “endangered species”. It’s not fair to compare our country with the ones I mentioned before. They had their share of problems growing as nations and their fair share of sins and mistakes.
Oh, and what makes me really mad is when people say they wand to leave Romania and neve come back because it’s not “pretty” and “perfect” like Germany for example. This for me is cowardice. This is why we are like this. Because when “YOU” (and YOU know what I mean by “YOU”) don’t like you give up, YOU take your toys and leave. I choose to stay, a choice I made a few years ago. Now I live in Bucharest and I wish to tell you that it is a beautiful city, not a “perfect” one. But neither are we. I would like to buy Romanian food, Romanian clothes and Romanian products but I cannot because the are not “in conformity with EU regulations”. I am beginning to regret us joining EU and being told how to sit and when to open my mouth by the IMF, NATO, EU Commission and others alike.
A few years ago someone in our government wanted to educate the gypsies, force them to get jobs and understant that if they want to receive something from the country they have to give someting back. The French got all upset and said we have no respect for human rights. And what did they and the Italians do when the gypsies went looking for “asylum” in their countries? Set them on fire. Literally. I don’t remember that happening in Romania. Ever. Maybe we should have told the French to mind their own business then and listen to ourselves. My opinion is that in time we grew soft, we let others make us feel that we should be ashamed of ourselves, that we are not worthy of something good. Well nothing lasts forever. I hope to be given the chance one day to show my love and respect for my country.
I am proud to be Romanian, I don’t hate my country but I hate it when a Romanian says he/she does. You have no right. Others may say it, it’s their problem, but the least we can do for our country is not hate it but love it and try to show it. This is why other countries look down on us. What can be more despicable than hating your people and your country, what respect to receive after this.
I hope you don’t really hate Romania. I hope you just have a bad moment. I wish you would have given a different name to the article. Something like “why foreigners think Romanians hate their country”. To all foreigners reading this article: we don’t hate our country we hate what our country and its people have to go through and we hope it ends soon. -
This is an excellent article.
When i tell Romanian people how much i love their country, 90% of the time the reaction is a horrified pause followed by an incredulous “but… why?”
This is completely the opposite of e.g. The Czech Republic or Hungary, or even Serbia…
It’s a form of self-hatred, and surely can’t be good for the people! -
Very insightful and very well written, Dragos. I lived in Romania for 7 years and, as an expat, found the country beautiful. I saw the country and its people from many different angles since I was first a volunteer working with micro, privately-owned companies, I traveled extensively to all borders and I also owned my own company, one of the most difficult things I have ever done, mostly due to the human issues involved.
I was often disappointed by the people who were constantly unhappy, disillussioned and had a sense of entitlement that I found misplaced. I was always saddened when I heard the often-told joke, “Romania’s a beautiful country. Too bad it’s full of Romanians.” Another of my “favorite” explanations of anything odd that happened in the country was a simple “Romania” that seemed to explain is all, as in, this type of thing would only happen in Romania.
The older Romanians, those who lived in and remember pre-Communist Romania are lovely – they dress well, they speak well and they walk with their heads held high. I took great pleasure in meeting and speaking with those 70-80 year olds who took great pride in themselves.
Sadly, I believe that it will take another generation or two to purge Romania of the negative feelings and self-loathing that is so prevalent in the country. Romania has brilliant people. Many of her diaspora are returning home to bring their knowledge, and their money, back to Romania. I hope Romania will soon be a competitive power (with proud people!) in Europe without the distinction of East or West. -
yep. just substitute romania with bulgaria and you get basically the same situation :P wat do? :))
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Dude,
I’m a Bulgarian. I’m well-paid, have university degree and (think) I’m intelligent – the background is important. I’ve worked abroad and had met with hatred (Germany), contempt (the Netherlands), indifference in a very positive way (United States) in regards to my country of origin.
I went through all the stages – shame, pride, rage, hatred. I have felt all the things you describe here. I brought rakia (I thought only Bulgaria had that) to my fellow coworkers, made them CDs with bulgarian music. For a while I travelled with the national anthem on my phone.Now I’m indifferent. I really am or at least strive to be. I cannot do much about all that – the past, the present, the perceived Bulgaria. I tried, I accomplished very little and I suffered a lot. Now I’m focused on the things I can change – my life, my friends, work, family.
Don’t get me wrong – I hope Bulgaria would get better. I really do. But now I understand that there are around 200 countries and Bulgaria is not that special. Actually, not special at all. But that does not make me less special. Or at least now that depends only on me.
Few days ago I read a lot of derogatory things about Bulgaria – in a Jewish museum in Berlin. We, the Bulgarians, thought we have saved all our jews in WWII and were proud of it. It comes out that maybe we didn’t. I was pretty angry for a while, thought of investigating it further.
At some point I said to myself – I have better things to do. I can make the world better by doing something useful.
All I wanted to say is: the prejudice, the burden is pointless, it distracts us from the real things. Clear your heads, open your minds. Life goes on.
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