There’s nothing fancy in going to Spain now, actually, I think Romanians aren’t asked to work there anymore because of this economic crisis that stroke Spain too. Romanians who have greater expectations emigrate to Canada, older Romanians go to Italy to work in nursing homes, young people go to America- the land of opportunities. I don’t want to leave! I still believe that I can make it here, buy a house with a mortgage, buy a car with some sort of a credit, have a job that I can rely on, where I will get a promotion once every few years and every now and then a raise. Am I naive? Optimistic? Crazy?

I believe that Romania has more possibilities to develop than any other Eastern European country. It is true that we’ve lost the chance to be a developed country after World War II, but it’s never too late to rewrite history. We have gold mines, oil, forests, arable land, smart people who wish to work. how can it be possible in this condition for us to be only a buyers market? When I go to hypermarkets, I see that Romanian products are few, hidden in the bottom shelves, they are not promoted and they don’t seem to be reliable. I buy Romanian products because I know that if they are not promoted, then the price doesn’t include this kind of costs.

Who am I? I am the product of the Romanian educational system, the product of the environment in which I grew up. If I had been born in America, I would have been somebody else. I am proud and satisfied of who I am and this is why I don’t want to leave. I know that a foreign place would change me and I don’t want to start believing that material things are more important than spiritual values. Which are the problems Romania has and why are they unique in the world? Bureaucracy? Corruption? Gypsies? Criminality? Let’s face it, this are problems that every country faces, this is not the part in which we are unique, but the part in which our valuable people are recognized world wide is unique and we should be very proud of it! Let’s not be cowards, we shouldn’t ask ourselves what Romania does for us, instead of what are we doing for Romania!

European Union’s motto is “unity in diversity” and we have joined it (both European Union and the motto) but when Mailat raped that Italian woman, everybody said we should be separated from the gypsies. We take pride in Transylvania’s architecture, but we hate the Hungarians for occupying our country. My question is: why aren’t we able to keep a constant? Why can’t we accept life with good and bad parts? Why can’t we accept one another and love each other for what we really are?

Mircea Badea says :” We are living in Romania and this occupies all our time!”. We are so busy criticizing all of the things that don’t go quite well here and we spend valuable time completing the emigration forms, that we forget we can do something for ourselves, we forget we are the ones who should make the change, we forget that faith of the two Word Wars was in our hands.
I strongly believe that the only thing Romanians don’t have is the patriotism. We could have done so much more if we had faith in ourselves, if we were proud of what we are, if we stopped underrate our values. I believe that Romania is a perfect country and the only thing that we have to do is to change our mentality, to open our eyes and first of all learn to appreciate ourselves.

Romanians have forgotten to promote there values, people like Petrache Poenaru. You don’t know who Petrache Poenaru is? He is the one who nearly 200 years ago invented the fountain pen and changed the world of writing instruments. There are many Romanians like him, but their talent is suppressed by the thought that we are too small to make any difference. I invite you to watch this video and you will understand who we really are!

Carmen Savu