Friday May 19, 2006
Some of you might have gotten to know me by now. I`m usually a pretty straight up guy, but I sometimes get these chills down my spine and that`s when I feel I have to add something new to my blog.
It so happened recently that I went to Austria for what was supposed to be a conference, but what turned out to be a life changing experience in all it`s possible comprehensions.
As a proud representative of the Romanian culture I went there with hopes of sharing some of our traditions and experience with the other people I was supposed to meet. And so I did. However, I was not expecting to learn so much as I have.
So, without further delay, I wish to share with you the first and greatest conclusion of all, which, unfortunately for me has been drawn before by a great mind of the Chinese history, Lao Tzu: “A journey of 200,000 steps starts with the first one.”
Now, what I want to say is that in order to bring a positive change to our society, each and every one of us has to believe that he/she has the power to change something. Change is like a disease, but in a beautiful way. If one is able to bring an obvious improvement to everything one does, then everybody one comes in contact with will be influenced.
Furthermore, it is very important for every single one of us to be aware that we have the right to choose. We have the right to choose whether we want to be happy or sad, whether to love or to hate, to help or to ignore, to be useless or to do something. It is up to us to make things happen the way we see fit, the way we wish.
The one thing we Romanians lack is the will to do something that doesn`t necessarily benefit us in the short run. We have this habit of seeing thins only on short term and seek for immediate profit fo ourselves. This is usually practical but damaging to our environment and to our social life on a longer term. We lack the will to do something for our society, we lack the will to asociate in order to do greater things together. We DO have determination, we DO have great power of concentration and we DO have the ability to give more than 100% percent when needed. However, we tend to focus on ourselves most of the time, not beeing able to see that by improving the environment, by acting sustainably and by taking a chance to make things better, TOGETHER, we can make a difference.
The Austrians taught me to be socially responsible. It might be hard at first, being among the few who respect the rules, the few who beieve in making a difference but I can tell you it works. It starts from the basic things, the small things that might seem unimportant. It starts with making sure you toss every piece of rubbish in the designated places, not wherever we feel like. It starts with crossing the streets in the designated places. It starts with putting aside the horn while driving in order not to incomodate the other drivers. It starts with saying “Hello!” to every person you know when walking by, it is the right way to show respect. And respect for each other is the first and most important way to get a bit more civilized. It is the first rule you have to obbey in order to demonstrate your integrity.
And another thing. Do not care so much about what other people think. Be natural! But try not to offend the others through your behaviour. Being natural doesn`t mean being primitive. It is a huge gap between the two notions and it`s best if we understand it fully. Once you stop being influenced by what you think other people think about you, you will understand that most of the times you were being paranoic. Not everyone thinks you are ridiculous just because you are a bit fatter than everyone else and you try to get better by running. You are not being ridiculous, you are being ambitious and those that might laugh at you are just idiotic and have total disrespect for you, so you needn`t take note of their oppinion because it doesn`t count. However, if you are running around with a huge sign on your T-shirt under which is written: “BITE ME! So what if I am fat?” than DO take note when elderly people accuse you of being shameless, because you are 
Anyways, the conclusion is that civilization is not about salaries, is not about cars or houses or “autobahns”. It is about mentality! It is about respect and caring for one another!
Thus I leave you now and hope that you will not watch civilization pass by while you are staring in thin air like my good friend the monkey in the picture above.
P.S. If you have gotten this far, then please, DON`T be a monkey and write a reply to this post!
