Wagonloads and empty glasses

There’s an old romanian folkloric song that goes like this:

When luck was being shared out, I was at work.
And it was given to everyone by the wagonload, but to me, it was given by the glass.
And even that wasn’t full, half of it was venom.
And that wasn’t drunk either, half of it was sorrow.

As this song so vividly shows, as a nation we consider ourselves deeply unlucky, and even that small portion of luck we know for sure was poured into our cup, is mixed with sorrow. I wasn’t that fond of history (or school as a whole for what is worth), at least not during my teenage/young years, so I’m not gonna go into too much detail about what happened ages ago (mainly because I have no clue about it). Instead, I’ll try to stick to events that went on closer in time to where we are now that may have had an impact on our view of life.

About 16 years back when I was about 16 years old, one romanian rap song managed to do something only few other rap songs did before (or after), and broke into the mainstream.

It’s was a song by Guess Who, titled “The right place” (RO: Locul potrivit), which teleports us back to the hardship endured by our parents and the ones who grew up or lived during the communist regime, and how those times shaped them, and us, into who we are today. Besides filling us with a deep sense of nostalgia, the children in uniforms and those bananas wrapped in newspapers painted a vivid picture of how scarcity drove us toward corruption, immigration, theft, cynicism, and a lot of the behaviour we can easily label as toxic today. And how could it be otherwise, if you’re forced to look how others thrive while you struggle to make ends meat?

Picture this: America was going through the roaring 80s, Wall Street was booming. Hollywood, shopping malls, skyscrapers, cars, computers, phones, you name it.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Romanians had to wait in endless queues just to get some bread. Or milk. Or eggs. Or anything else we today take for granted. Just because there wasn’t anything on the shelves … Most of the things produced were exported (and we produced A LOT) as our fearless leader wanted to see Romania free of debt (which is a pretty noble cause if you think about it). But the end doesn’t really justify the means when people are deprived of hot water and heating, when the grocery shops are empty, when every movement you make is watched and controlled by the party, when the concept of free speech is a distant dream no one even dares to think about, when there’s only a few hours of TV per day, and it’s all party propaganda, and the list goes on and on.

21 December 1989 TV program as per DEX Online. 1984 vibes much?

And then it all changed. Everyone’s proverbial glass was full (as opposed to the half-filled luck-glass), and Ceausescu pissed off enough powerful people to make it in their best interest to have him taken down. It was the people who rebelled, fought, and died in December 1989, but it sure as hell wasn’t the people who called the shots. And it only took one spark to turn the whole thing into one big shit show. The army, the police, the people, all fighting against one another on a ground that can only be defined by chaos and confusion. No one knew who’s shooting. No one was shooting. Everyone was shooting. Innocent people fought and died to break free of the shackles they were born into, and offer their children something they have never experienced. Freedom.

And here we are. 35+ years after their sacrifice. Free.

Now we have a supermarket at every corner and a mall or shopping centre at every block. We have paved roads in the countryside, electricity, gas, grandparents that don’t shit in their yards anymore, and don’t have to heat water on the stove to wash themselves. I’m sure it could be a lot better. I’m sure there’s a lot of corruption, from the lowest to the highest level. I’m sure a lot of our country’s riches were sold to get us here. But corruption is everywhere, and in our political landscape finding someone who is untainted, or doesn’t have/had any shady connections at some point in his life, I think it’s pretty much a wild goose chase.

I too am sick and tired of choosing the lesser evil, and before the last elections were cancelled I was scared shitless because that time, I couldn’t see a lesser evil. I only saw evil. And stupidity. A choice between wolves dressed as sheep, or actual sheep. That’s the very definition of a double bind.

And the thing is, things don’t look much better outside Romania either (probably not very encouraging, but hey, smile, it can get worse). I mean, America, the beacon of freedom and democracy, the pillar we all rely on for help and guidance, is lead by Donald Trump. Donald freakin Trump is the President of the United States of America. They had to choose between a senile old man and a crook, and they chose the crook. A second time. Let that sink in. It should speak volumes about the current state of the world.

We all complain about the status quo, but we are the ones who more or less choose it, through how much time and effort we invest into researching the people we elect to lead us. I am not fond of politics. I think it’s a jungle where only jackals and hyenas have a chance to reach the top and thrive. Less of an even playing field and more of a game of deceit and manipulation that leaves no room for good and honest people. But this time it feels different. I really feel like there is a better choice. A choice that is not just the lesser evil, but can potentially be the “morer good”.

If you haven’t done it already I very much encourage you to go vote. And when you do, don’t think about the TikToks you’ve seen, don’t think about the tv commercials or the ads you’ve been targeted with, the billboards in your hometown or who your friends said they’ll vote with. Think of those who gave their lives for you to have the chance to vote. And like them, think of your children. Think of who can make this country a better place for your kids to grow up in. Your brothers and sisters from abroad to come back to. Your parents to grow old in.

Don’t vote for today. Vote for tomorrow. And maybe, (just maybe) tomorrow will be better.