Month 6

Through our relationship, I have grown and developed within the most profund layers of my being, and this is one of the things I must especially thank you for.

Birthplace is part of Self

Whether we choose where to be born or not, somewhere in this world we draw the first breath in our lives.

No matter where our life roads take us and where we settle down for some time or for the rest of our lives, every one of us will at least be identified by a name, a birthday and a birthplace.

I do not believe in a generic, universal “man”, except purely theoretically. Indeed, we are all the same as human beings by comparison to other species. Actually, each individual is a unique universe reaching for the others. The combinations between our genetic, social and cultural inheritance, on the one hand, and our perception of life, experience and its expression, on the other hand, are infinite. ‘No two people are the same’, as the saying goes.

In this context, I consider that the place where you are born and raised shapes you in a way which marks you forever, as it fully contributes to that specific combination making you be YOURSELF.

Today we celebrate Romania’s National Day and as I am a Romanian (with a touch of European), I would like to openly acknowledge the amazing gifts I have received by being born in this country. Despite all the faults Romanians pinpoint with regard to their country, it really is a great place to be born in. I think it is in fact as good or as bad as any other place where people live. Our country’s improvement, development, evolution are always desirable and possible, and they do actually happen (although sometimes too slow for our taste).

In just a few words, I am grateful for the beautiful and rich native language that I speak, for the culture and history built in centuries of hardships at the crossroads of Western and Eastern civilizations, for the wonders of nature that I (re)discover with each trip through my home country, for the loving parents and extended family (many of whom have never traveled abroad) I was lucky to have, for all special people that I have crossed paths with along the years and who became part of my life, for everything that makes me live another day here.

Happy National Day, Romania!