As, for me, a wage earner of a school, I found out that our so known director, a man of an apart professional honesty, gifted with the spirit of justice, a remarkable psychologist, that advanced a lot of „future talents”, had the mischance to be operated in the celebration day of the debts settlement, that ended with an unheard manifestation. There could have been some exaggerations of those events, but over 8000 people were caught out in a meeting, only in Baia Mare, the city being actually blocked from the “Baia Sprie” street to the train station and from the Community Center till Hotel Mara-Traian, with slogans, placards, pictures and obviously, manifestations. This massive multitude of people from this „ great manifestation” was tidy. Most of them were taken from their work; the event was considered to be one of the last curiosities developed by society, meaning that there was the custom that at the big manifestations people would vaunt with „future rights or freedom” that we would be given and accepted or other „improvements” of „our standard of living” decided by … We all wanted to know, after all this disenfranchise, what kind of compensations we would receive, we , the good in faith ones, that have paid their debts, made by HE (Nicolae Ceausescu) or SHE (Elena Ceausescu), debts that we didn’t take place at. Otherwise, just as nowadays. The bad luck of our last director was in fact the day in which he was chosen to be operated when most of the people that were working in the hospital went at the … MANIFESTATION. I ask myself sometimes what would have happened those days if we had the thieves we have now, days in which we could allow to leave our town empty and leave for any kind of DEMONSTRATIONS. Can you imagine the picture of a town that had half of its inhabitants at work and the others at the … manifestation, all the flats and the houses being left empty. What a bit of luck!
After „the handing over of the propaganda’s materials”, the ones that were responsible over were the only ones that returned at the units. After this we went back home. They didn’t „spell a word of it”. With all the gentleness and curiosity, this was for us drudgery. In exchange for the HEAD ones it was a triumph. „They didn’t serve us” any kind of promise. They didn’t tell us when our son’s and daughters will be able to eat butter, they also didn’t tell us when we would be able to eat a slice of meat, we were disgusted of „gym shoes” and „flatwares”. We were also disgusted of the pigs that were dieing at “Seini”, pigs that after smoking they would sell at a prize of a „club steak”.
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They didn’t tell us anything, they didn’t give us anything, not even a bit of hope! A friend of mine got the chance to run to Hungary where the first „course of formula 1” from the socialist countries was initiated, friend that didn’t miss the chance to tell me that : „he pisses on my patriotism”, was telling stories like, „in there” you can buy the sausage (a good one) and the meat „to an ounce”, as for us, Romanians, we have the right in one year to stay for four times, all day long in an endless row. Some of these products we were able to see only from time to time, otherwise, there were happy days, to get a small quantity of meat by-products. Products that were prohibited in those times. At 8 o’clock the „him and her” TV show, used to start, show in which most of the time was mentioned „their effort” for the success of the country, that for certain was considered „their personal” success. What else were we supposed to do if they „did EVERYTHING”? Today, while we are mentioned how many days we have to year 2000 in those times, we were used to be mentioned how many days there were until „the anniversary of him or her” were. After this they mentioned how many days have past from the “big event”. Seeing that “the line” of the show goes on, I shut down the TV, coming back to the thoughts that harass me daily: “From whom could I buy four cans of meat, to send my daughter at the Faculty?” Nobody was telling me anything.
The whole demonstration at the country level, has germinated a lot of doubts and questions regarding our living, with the final conclusion that: a better living while we are lead by “HE and SHE” could not be possible. Every morning, pupils will wait for me in front of the class door with impatience. They were probably thinking that the class will go on with stories about “the good living after this – eventful – day”. I entered the class room and “ accourding to the schedule” that they imagined, the first question was launched : “Teacher, what does it mean that we have paid our external debts?” A lightning stroke my memory. With a few weeks earlier, one of my old pupils, that by now was still serving in the army, was sitting at the door of my flat.
-”Sandu”, what are you doing here? I asked the soldier.
-You know, teacher, I have a list with a few people that I have to check if they are home. You can find yourself on this list.
-”Sandu”, we were in a good relation while you were a pupil. Why didn’t you knock at the door, to get in? Do you believe is nice to eavesdrop?
-Please excuse me, I would also like to see you, to change a few words, but we aren’t allowed to communicate with the people from the list, so … we cannot contact the ones that are being followed.
-What do you mean when you said followed?
-This is reality. I don’t know for what reason, in fact these lists are being changed everyday for the same reason I believe. We aren’t supposed to know and to have any kind of relationship with the persons we check. I come for the second time at your door …
-It’s fine “Sandu”, is not you who I’m angry at, this is our country…nowadays.
After a few seconds from this check, the eight year old child from my school arrives with another question :
-Father, doest God exist? What does, believing in Him, mean? The way that the question was formulated and told by the child, was obvious that the one that “conceived” the question knew God exists. He was interested only about the second part of the questioning, for which I was in a way forced to answer:
-”Mihaita”, do you have a father?
The child stared at me. He probably associated me in his mind with the “person” that asked him the same question and I appeared to him even more abstruse, most of all because he was asking for my help.
-Well, am I not your father?
– A …yes…sure…
-What do you think, did I have a father?
-Well…yes, of course you had…
– Then you understand that my father also had a father.
-Of course he also had a father…
-And it also existed the father of our father…
-Now I am sure that it existed.
-Well, you see? The first father was OUR FATHER, of all of us. During this conversation I continuously asked you if you “believe that the fathers” had father? All the answers you given me were affirmative, that means you were sure about that, that anyone has a father, familiar as I am, with respect and faith in the FATHER OF OUR FATHER.