Miorita is a pastoral ballad that defines the quintessence of the Romanian way (or at least that’s what we, the Romanians, like to thinks). In a nutshell, it’s about the attitude in front of death or by extension (we can only die once remember) the attitude in front of inevitable things. The attitude is: whatever will be will be, I cannot really change anything I might as well enjoy what I have until the inevitable happens. Powerful stuff here. This is basically the default way of thinking (and I would go as far as to say that it’s human nature) for all kind of situations, even totally manageable ones. We are so focused on the bad outcome that we don’t even try to do anything that will result in a different result.
Now if we look at what’s happening in Romania today (and for the last 20 years for a matter of fact), both from an economic and a political point of view, you’ll see that this is regarded by most people who live there as… inevitable. The situation was made worst by the global economic crisis and the shock waves have just started rippling through the Romanian economy (although people might like to think that we’re somewhere in the middle of the process I am guessing that this is just the beginning). The general accepted attitude is that something should be done about this situation. How this is to be done reflects the purest mioritic way: someone else should do it.
People are outraged by the measures the government takes. Everybody bitches about how unhappy they are and how the country that they live in should be and enabler for them - not a burden!. It’s sad for me to see that happening. Sad because most of my family and close friends are in Romania. Sad because everyone is focusing on the bad outcome and are listening to the sound of inevitability.
Almost 100% of the friends I talk to and are roughly in the same age group as me want to leave the country to make a better living elsewhere, anywhere. Most of them won’t probably take this step, but I guess it’s giving them a metal comfort cushion or an ultimate fallback plan that is keeping them sane in this situation.
The bottom line: whatever the situation is you can choose to be a bystander or you can choose to act when you’re unhappy about something. Yeah, easy to speak, hard to do. I’m not saying that the change you wish to make can be achieved overnight or that it’s gonna be easy. I’m saying that you are, in the end, the ultimate responsible for your life. If you don’t care no one will. Don’t expect anyone to act on your behalf.
If you want a better job to be able to cover your expenses go for it, if you think the country you’re living in doesn’t help you reach your full potential move to another country, if you’re in a government job and the pay is crappy start looking for another job, if you’re at a certain age don’t be afraid/too proud to ask others for help. Reach out and use the means that are available to you.