Terrifying rudeness

A nation can be respected if it respects itself. Respect for its greatest personalities, those who made its history and identity, is one extent of it.
As far as we are concerned, it isn't always so, unfortunately. It may be painful and, furthermore, it may be a clue showing the level of civilization and maturity reached by our society. This is what counts in the international eye first. Then there count the other components of the definition: political, economic, social, military and security.
As normal, society has had a deep response to the death of the Patriarch Teoctist. It was also normal that the Romanian government should declare Friday to be a national day of mourning, in order to properly emphasize the exceptional importance and vital contribution of His Beatitude the Patriarch Teoctist, paid in the 21 years of guiding the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Unfortunately, Dumitru Dragomir, a deputy representing the "Greater Romania" Party and a president of the Romanian Soccer League, announced boycott of the government's decision, informing the soccer games would take place as scheduled. The boss of his party, a man very Christian in his public stance, didn't protest in any way. And no one protested in any way: no one who paid a last homage by the coffin of the Patriarch Teoctist, no one who signed condolence letters. You know those letters forwarded to all the press agencies at once so that they will reach the news as soon as possible. This is how our politicians are like: they know so, they feel so and they do so.
The very serious problem emerging at this point is the powerlessness of the state and state structures to impose obedience to a decision as essential as the one on the national day of mourning. The deep crisis of authority Romania is going through allows for defiance of any decision because of the very autonomous areas, very numerous, in which the one who holds local power can very well defy central authorities. Very authoritative in his field, Dumitru Dragomir shows the world not only his utter disgust with the moral values which he theoretically committed to respect by his membership of the "Greater Romania" Party, but also the fact that in today's Romania he may very well care about nothing.
Do you fancy that, when in France there was a national day of mourning when General de Gaulle was interred, they were playing soccer games and the public opinion or the political class didn't express strong opposition ? And let's hit the other side of international politics for an example. Do you fancy Italy housed any sports competition the day Pope John Paul II was interred ?
All the Romanian politicians who will be attending the funeral should feel deeply humiliated by the attitude of Dumitru Dragomir, a member of the Romanian Parliament, by his terrifying rudeness. But only in case they haven't got tickets accompanied by an invitation to the Golden Blitz Restaurant, which is good for opinion polls.
It is not the Romanian people who should feel shamed. Those thousands and thousands of Romanians who queued to pay a last tribute by the coffin show the worth of the respect and common sense that need to be admitted as such. It is the others who are a problem. In fact, they are a huge problem, just like the destructive, dramatic and spreading rudeness they embody.

Cristian Unteanu
Ziua Vineri 03 Iulie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english