“As many as 3.4 million Romanians have fled the country since it joined the European Union in 2007. The figure represents 17 per cent of the country’s total population. The exodus is unprecedented anywhere in Europe during peacetime. Over the same period, only war-torn Syria has seen a higher percentage of its citizens emigrate.” (New Statistics Confirm Romania’s Demographic Catastrophe – Emerging Europe)
About living abroad, I think the following tends to be more true than not:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
We need people who are at least partially unhappy with the situation, so that there is change.
What happens when people decide that change is too hard to do, and decide to quit the country? Likely, the best of the best people leave a country and leave a gap.
If you look at the situation in Romania, on multiple levels (Politics, Economics, Justice, Healthcare, Corruption, Poverty, Equal chances), there are lots of things to be unhappy about this.
There was a meme (something along the lines of: International Guidelines For Problem Solving : r/funny) stating that Romanians tend to solve problems by leaving the country.
Some practical examples – Romania vs. the UK:
Romania:
- I saw an old lady at one point fighting hard, pushing, to get into a bus. Quite aggressive. She was among the first people to get into the bus. Once in the bus, she stopped at the entry so that when she got off at one or two following stations, she would be among the first to get off. She didn’t advance into the bus, making room for others to join the bus. One time I wasn’t able to get off a bus, there was a man with a dog in the bog, I tried to be polite to the dog, and the people didn’t want to wait until getting into the bus, they kept pushing.
- At queues in Romania in supermarkets sometimes there are some new lines opening. There’s generally no respect for the people who are first in the current queues. Sometimes the people last in the queue go first at the new lines opening. At some point, I mentioned to one person that I was in front of them, and the person replied, aggressively and angrily, that I was standing at a line only for cards, and thus had no right to be the first at the queue with cash also (of course, if I pay by card, I could also pay at the line with cash + card; the assertion made no sense, but the aggressiveness made sense to the person).
The UK:
- I was in the subway; it was a crowded train. I had a lot of luggage; I carried a tripod and a large backpack. I kept saying “Sorry, sorry, sorry”. One lady said, smiling to me, “But of course you need to pass. No need to say Sorry. It’s fine, you can’t do otherwise”.
- I was at a queue in a supermarket. I bought a lot of aerated chocolate with mint. Very nice chocolate; there was none in Romania like this. So I bought a lot of products to bring home to the people I would meet. Something in the lines of 20-30 pieces, I think. The cashier saw this and went to ask the manager if they could offer me a price discount for bulk shopping. They couldn’t, as there was already a sale on place on the item, but it was a nice gesture. There were people in line behind me; it didn’t matter to the cashier; she wanted to help.
You can look at the above situation and think – “Oh, Romania is so bad, the situation is unsolvable”. I still think this tends to be too emotional. My solution? I try to focus on the things I can change. I try to be polite and unaggressive. I try to do my part.
I don’t think that a person who goes to another country to perform better does a poor thing. But I do think I have an obligation to Romania to at least try to ignore some of the things I can’t control and try to improve the things I can.
Try to improve Romania, don’t go to the UK at the first sign of a problem.
If you are constantly angy, upset, annoyed when reading news, consider being more detached and focusing on the things you can improve. If it’s not in your control and keep coming back to the bad situation in your mind, you might lose not only a battle (you are upset), but the war (you leave the country). You can choose to pick your battles, and only be upset for things that are in your control.
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