Today marks an important day

Posted on by November 23, 2009 by Daniel Daboczy - Editor in chief

20 years to the day, we left Romania for freedom. The mythical, western freedom.

At that point the world was, if not opening it’s arms, at least allowing us to come and stay. Today 20 years later, after so much time, with a new generation in charge we look back to a bigger Europe, to an utopia we couldn’t even dream of. As a kid I watched how people stood up and fought for their rights. I saw the start of the first riots, with people that later were punished, abducted or killed. As a kid we spoke in codes, as a kid I found microphones hidden in our apartment and as a kid I dreamt of freedom. A strange thing to dream about, but it was still there. Reachable. Because I knew that someday things would change. And they did. In a big way. But how do you change the mentality of people that are born and raised without daring to dream?

Later on, as an adult, while walking around in a successful suit and enjoying my free life, I froze and saw other Romanians that left after us, after the collapse of the wall, struggle as second and third class citizens. I saw Africans hunted and taunted by police and I saw that the fact that we left just in time gave me other possibilities then others ever had. I realized that luck is sometimes the only real factor. And do you think freedom tastes as good when others don’t have the same right? I can tell you it doesn’t.

Today, on this very same day, this day of reflection for me, I read the papers and they write about a Europe that more and more is closing up. That Africans rather seek refuge in South America and I see that we still have a long way to go.

And I can’t stand by and watch this happen. Not again. Please do whatever you can, whatever you want but please react and let us build something better then this.

/Daniel Daboczy

daniel@ideasforchange.tv