Thinking of Romania on its National Day

It is somehow bizarre for me to write about Romania and its National Holiday, but here I am.

Romania celebrates its National Holiday on December 1st, to remember 1918 when it became geographically great. Actually the greatest it has ever been. 

After December 1st, 1918, Romania reached its largest borders in modern history after the reunification with Transylvania. However, after WW II Romania lost territories to the Soviets and Bulgarians but it has managed to remain within the current borders ever since, which is a miracle, given 1989.

Sometimes I am wondering if Romania will ever be as large as it was on December 1st, 1918.

Today -and not only now- Romania seems a lost cause. It appears that it has been -almost always- at the mercy of other nations and has not shown to be capable of adapting to the needs of modern societies but sporadically and inconsistently.

From what I know, Romanians crave a society that has attributes such as openness, good infrastructure, social mobility, tolerance, appetite for education, secularism, access to good healthcare, fair taxation, opportunities for all, economic freedom, and justice. All these are sore topics for almost all Romanians who care just a little bit about the grand ideals of the Great Romania of 1918.

Spiritually and linguistically speaking Romania has always been great. However, spirituality requires infrastructure and economic backbones which Romania has not managed to build and maintain with consistency and efficiency.

Many Romanians have left Romania to seek coalescing backbones able to support and sustain their spirituality. I am proud to be of Romanian descent and would love to be able to welcome Romania to the family of great nations of Europe.

Today I cannot say that I have many reasons be too proud of Romania's status in Europe but I am more hopeful than ever that Romania will somehow manage to pull itself up by the bootstraps and gain front door ascendance to the family of the great countries of Europe. One step at a time and one individual at a time, whether in Romania or abroad.

Happy National Day, Romania!