Comment: Romania - rusted and rutted; life beyond the Iron Curtain

There are many reasons why Europeans look at Romania and Romanians with awe. It was a Romanian who was instrumental in bringing to this world the instrument to write in the modern times – the fountain pen, as early as the 1827. This contribution to writing has continued even today, but the medium of writing has changed from ink to computer texts, with many Romanians contributing to modern writing through their intellectual capabilities in Microsoft and other software giants of the world! The list of Romanians' inventions that made this world a better place is extensive, noteworthy with inventions like the jet engine, insulin, and even with The Perfect 10 in gymnastics, and so on. The ability to work diligently and hard, with absolute focus, and, provided the opportunity is right and at a reasonable cost, is another phenomenal aspect of many a Romanian working outside and inside of Romania. What is intriguing here is that all these contributions to making this world a better place by Romanians have unfortunately ceased to exist – except for software technology. Beyond intrigue, the aspect that distresses many social psychologists and performance analysts is the reason for the lack of aspiration or zeal in majority of working class Romanians. What contributed to this demise of aspiration and creativity? What happened to the creative people? What should be done to bring about a Romanian renaissance? These are questions worth pondering, a process of reflection which is so crucial for a new Romania. What’s ailing Romania and Romanians? I think the answer to the above questions lies in the psycho-socio-economic factors that surround the making of modern Romania and the diversity of people who are the policy makers, administrators, lawmakers, and the multitudes of those who constitute the workforce. During the post World War II regimes and until 1989, the life of all Romanians, including many baby boomers revolved around the following four unwritten doctrines for their survival, if they had to exist. Follow the rules Do nothing that is not asked of you Going beyond the call of duty is totally unacceptable All that belongs to you doesn’t belong to you! The players and the participants This systemic enforcement and encroachment on people’s psyche resulted in a new breed of survivors – comprising a majority not of the fittest, but of the disinterested, blinkered and in few cases opportunists to the hilt. In management terms these three types of people can be described as those who are followers, focused and the leaders. This way of life resulted in many psychological and social implications including lack of trust, self-preservation, making a quick buck, beating the system, lack of loyalty etc, in many people. But the worst development or outcome to have developed from this period seems to be the concepts of opportunism and apathy. The point of all these observations is that the majority of people in Romania come under the three categories above. Post 1989, with the revolution done and away, a new system of governance came in to place. The majority of policy makers were apathetic people, who were and are followers and focused. While the executors of these policies, the leaders, are of the third category – Opportunists! Apart from these three types of people, there is one more group, like in all societies. These are the rebels of the society, rebels who became entrepreneurs. They thrive and live life through intriguing means, they border on thrills and spills – the thrills of achieving and doing new things in an enterprising manner. Spills, in cases where the path to success was filled with gray areas. Like in all countries, the leaders and the entrepreneurs represent the face of Romania. Sadly, there is no emotional connect or any bridges that fill the emotional gap between the leaders and entrepreneurs and the common people, who still live their lives following the rules or in a rut filled with bureaucratic procedures, lacking inspiration or aspiration. The void this diversity has created is too huge that it is very difficult to address and hence is not being addressed at all – either through education or through enablement. To worsen matters, these baby boomers have brought up their millennial kids in an environment filled with an eternal paradox. A paradox that makes the new generation aspire for an open world, through processes that deny them any latitude through their multitude of policies, rules and stipulations! Thus creating a group of demotivated, disinterested people, a visionless generation, who are readily misled and taken advantage off.