YESTERDAY AND TODAY. 35 YEARS SINCE THE ROMANIAN REVOLUTION, WITH THOSE WHO LIVED IT
Anda Pittiș, arrested and beaten, imprisoned in Jilava on December 21, 1989, says that 35 years are not enough in the process of relearning, of rebuilding a mentality of free people. She is not only the widow of Florian Pittis and his great love. In a world running out of landmarks and models, she herself is a voice worth listening to. She doesn’t want to impose anything on anyone, but she also doesn’t abdicate her values and beliefs, which she upholds with graceful strength. And he continues to believe that all people can be gentle, warm and honest. It remains so, even when “come in turn, come other times”!
My gesture was, first of all, a gesture of liberation personal and of communion with those from Timișoara, of despair and hope at the same time
In a message sent on Facebook, on your birthday, Maria Gheorghiu said: “Your simple presence gives me a feeling of well-being, joy and peace. I feel like around you people strive to be the best version of themselves.” I subscribe and ask: how do you manage Anda? what is the recipe
A simple explanation would be that my friends, including Maria, are very kind and tender to me. On the other hand, although I know that no one is perfect, I believe that all people are good, gentle, warm, honest. No, I don’t use psycho-pedagogical tricks! Probably when I meet them I give them this subliminal message: “Be as I think you are: kind, gentle, warm, honest!” And people, if they aren’t already (most of the time they are!), they are becoming. At least for a while.
You’ve spent a lifetime with children. How do you explain that, according to a recent opinion poll, 41% of young people in Romania would support the establishment of an authoritarian regime?
I would try to explain their support for an authoritarian regime to me if the first question was “What is an authoritarian regime?” Then I would know that the answers were given knowingly. We humans are the beings who are born the least prepared for life. It takes us about a year to stand on our feet, two more to be able to say what hurts us, and then a lifetime to learn to live. We are fragile. We need guides, mentors, spiritual parents, rules, safety. Some of us turn to our heavenly Father every night. Not necessarily for thanks, but for support, for protection, for deliverance. Others expect all this from laws, from political structures, from the state. Freedom and democracy are hard to learn. Nostalgia and responsibility seem to become antagonistic terms. We make comparisons between the past and the present and ignore that the younger generation is still our “creation”, of those of the second, third age. What we sow, we reap!
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution and you are among those who were arrested and beaten on December 21, 1989, in Bucharest’s University Square. I found out by chance, at the launch of Varujan Vosganian’s book, “Double self-portrait”, from his stories, not yours at all. Why did you never want to talk about it?
I talked about the 1989 Revolution in my own way and I was happy that Varujan Vosganian, with whom I spent part of the night of December 21-22, 1989 at the Capital Militia and whom I did not know then, wrote this novel , “Double self-portrait”, in which I found myself and others who were arrested and then imprisoned in Jilava. My gesture was, first of all, a gesture of liberation personal and of communion with those from Timișoara, of despair and hope at the same time. It was something natural. 35 years have passed. In the history of a people, in the process of relearning, of rebuilding a mentality of free people, it seems that it is not enough. Just as the few pages in the history books children learn at school are not enough to teach them to live in democracy.
„They are coming in line, other times are coming!”
What would Grandfather say about today’s world? What would he like and dislike about what is happening around us right now?
Florian warned us long ago, taking over, translating Dylan’s message, that times are changing:
„Come good people from every land.
Look around, the waters have risen a bit,
And soon, too soon, I penetrate you to the bone.
If you don’t want to waste time,
Learn to score or you’re going to rock bottom.
They are coming in line, other times are coming!
He himself participated in the change, creating 20 years ago, in 2004, the first radio exclusively on the Internet. I can’t guess what he would say, I only know what others know, and what he demonstrated throughout his career, that he liked the beginnings, the untrodden paths, that he found solutions in seemingly stuck situations. It was surprising. Florian created an image that perpetuates itself in an almost magical way, through those who were influenced by his deep free spirit, his musical and cultural choices, his professionalism, his seriousness and his love for people.
Do you think that the flower-power movement would have any chance of revival, as a response to the aggression, to the violence that is more and more present? Could the slogan “Make Love Not War” be any more compelling?
Flower-power, yes, it would be nice, if you ask me… I don’t know, I don’t know if it would still work. I can only hope that humanity will find the resources to save itself.
Remember Florian Pittiș – Flowers for the soul, October 4, 2024
Interview carried out exclusively for Cotidianul by Laura Ganea
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
