FREE EUROPE RADIO

The year was 1962 when my father read in a shallow but loud voice the news that Romania completed the process of agricultural collectivization, which meant that nobody but the state could have full ownership of the entire farmland, forests, rivers, and all the production tools. We were three farmer's daughters aged 8, 10, and 13, and we were happy to hear this from our father: "From now on, no more fear for you that somebody will plant a grenade somewhere in our home, no more stay late to watch over me when in the long meetings to get convinced to sign my expropriation paper." During the long summer, autumn, winter evening visits, one of the "comrades" got friendly with my father, and trusted him to share his deep belief: the communism will be a failure for our country but having this government job will make easier to protect people like my father. So he did. My father managed to keep his land and small winery as long as he did not attract any attention marketing his products in prominent places, like farmers' markets and fares. Proudly, we managed to keep out of Communist Party membership while the perception was that the entire nation should be enrolled except bad citizens such as the homeland traitors who tried to defect from the country seeking political asylum. In the end, most of the "good" communists left the country. My father was ultimately against that, keeping listening in secret to "Voice of America" and "Free Europe" radio programs, mostly set to convince people to seek freedom of speech, etc., outside Romania. My father keeps saying that release should come from inside, not from outside. So he kept watching, listening, and doing his things when the day approached. He saw his old friend on TV speaking in the city of Timisoara, where the Revolution began on December 1989. The "Comrade" was wearing a military outfit. My father felt sorry that he was 66, not moving very well with his left leg wounded in the Second World War.

I remember my father being sorry for their treatment of the president and his wife, and they shut them without trial. "Shame, Shame on you, false patriots! You were the ones who supported him to take power; you clapped your hands to whatever he said; you made them national heroes; now you take their goods away. Shame! Shame!" It happened on 1989 Christmas Day!

So they did. Whoever was close to the "honey jar." dipped their hands in, bought large properties, even outside Romania, became good capitalists, threw their Communist Party cards in the garbage, and even started to follow Jesus. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" my father exclaimed....and there was no more "Free Europe" and "Voice of America."

Everybody was free to go wherever they chose. And many did. The food labels came more and more in English, more Coca-Cola than water! My father decided not to learn English at his 89th Birthday celebration. He continued to drink unpasteurized milk from his cows, eat fresh eggs and cheese, drink his homemade plum brandy, listen to the weather broadcast and folk music until the sunny, white morning of January 7, 2011, when he closed his eyes for the last time on this Earth.

There is nobody I respect more in the entire world than this man who happens to be my father. He made it his way, simply without hurting anybody.

As of today, February 05, 2023, Romania is a UE member. Most of her young citizens left the homeland to fill the western countries' housekeeping, janitorial or farm jobs as most of the communist era metallurgic, construction, and textile manufactures were closed. The forests are also going at the lowest price in the UE. Some robust talented Romanians managed to get highly-paid jobs in medicine and construction in countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.

The elders are home alone or taking care of their grandchildren and waiting for the young parents to come home for Christmas. Foreign investment in Romanian real estate and natural resources exploitation increased as everything became more affordable for capitalists. Romanians started to replace their language with English more and more. The silence is for those who cannot adapt; Romania is still on the World Map, most Romanians are outside, and McDonald's serves more antibiotics-treated chickens and Coca-Cola! What an evolution following the Revolution! Natural selection or capitalism collection? I think we live with both. What's next? Waiting for Jesus? This is my Q!