#SMartWednesday is here a little later than usual. So, this was supposed to be one of those articles where I talk to you about smart things relating to lifestyle and health, right? Or some sort of psychosociological reference in between life, diet and exercise. But I can’t today. I just can’t put my head up right to write something that given the current Romanian state of mind sounds and is not so important.
WHERE TO START?
We all look inside ourselves for health, ideas and a good lifestyle. But there is another side of the coin. A thing called social responsability. Plus another two things called empathy and solidarity. But most of all, I want to talk to you about love. Of oneself and of others. I want to talk to you about the love of life.
Society has us in a state of dormant acceptance. We consume all that the current economical, mass-media and political institutions offer us and grow complacent of our beautiful and well-put lives. It’s all so shallow. It’s all so mindless.
All that should count is what and how we do to and for one another as human beings. Everything else is secondary.
#COLECTIV HALLOWEEN
Last Friday, during a Halloween concert at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, people lost their love of life. They lost their lives alltogether.
Burnt alive and envisioning scenes of the Walking Dead, they rushed out of the flaming building and ran, crawled and begged for their lives to the ambulances and firefighter units that were present at the scene. People who were there and went through that tragic event, say that they saw Hell itself. Dense and toxic smoke burned them from the inside out and some of them had burns that covered 90% of the skin.
As I write this, from the almost 300 participants at that concert, 32 have lost their lives, and the rest are either hospitalised, fighting for their lives, or having to deal with the emotional trauma in the aftermath of the disaster. How was this possible? Read on!
A ROTTEN SOCIAL SYSTEM THAT NEEDS CHANGE
The situation is delicate in Romania. Communism died 26 years ago, but its spirit still lingers around and drowns a developing country. It perpetuates corruption, bribes and lack of interest in anything else but having something to gain either way. It forces young people to give in to these infamous ways and endanger all of us.
This was the situation at club Colectiv, this Friday night. The club was open in an ex shoe factory’s great hall, that had no ventilation or windows, a minimal fireproof system or even a second exit.
Investigations are still moving forward, but it seems like the authorities who had to check that all the conditions were in due order, did a superficial job, declaring the club ready for use, in exchange for a certain amount of money.
This is the reason why yesterday, young Romania got to the streets and asked for a change. The system is the one to blame for the death and pshysical injury of so many people, and the emotional and mental scarring of thousands more. Because, you know, empathy is real.
As a response to yesterday’s manifestations, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Mayor of the 4th District of Bucharest (where Colectiv was situated) all resigned and Romanians are now confrunted with somehow changing the system, and transforming for good the decaying administration structures that don’t let them live as they deserve, since the December 1989 Revolution.
People are very angry, very sad and want revenge. It’s all normal. It’s… colective behaviour at its best. The community defends itself of what it sees as a common enemy.
Real social change unfortunatelly never came through well-thought initiatives. No. It mostly came along with a tragedy, a social shock of some sorts. That is the way people learn, that's the way people wake up and react.
It's what sociologists call the Conflict Theory. It states that social change happens only through social class fight, through... conflict. Unfortunatelly, we need shock to make us react in any given situation. We need fear, to gain anger and start to move. It's human nature.
The situation must change. Corruption must be erradicated, a new and functional country needs to be built. A country in which its citizens wouldn’t have to die because of the incompetence of its administration.
Romanians are as European as any other nation on this continent. We are like you: young, with dreams and plans and SO ALIVE!
Our national anthem literally says:
“Wake up, Romanian, from the sleep of the death,
Into which you have been sunk by the barbaric tyrants.
Now, or never, make a new fate for yourself,
To which even your cruel enemies will bow.”
Thank you for the time you spent reading this.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Celic
Bucharest 04/11/2015