tudor chirila, the lead voice of the band vama veche, has sustained a program recently. he talked to teenagers of several bucharest high-schools about career choice, about choices in general. moreover, he offered a few personal opinions on studying and culture.
let’s take the ups and downs of this experience, for they were both mixed together. firstly, many of my classmates refused to come, considering chirila was someone who had nothing to learn them. don’t get me wrong, i wasn’t at all confused and waiting for someone to show me what i want to do from now on. but i think that each person we talk to gives us a little bit of themselves, while getting a little bit of us.and the alternative was going home, which is something that i get to do daily – so i think it was worth.
to start with the bad parts – not being pessimistic, they’re only fewer – he seemed a little bit too clinched to his own ideas, in spite of the obvious opening he had. what i mean is that at a certain point, his arguments sounded a bit like “because i say so”, which wouldn’t be such a strong argument if you asked me.
as for the good parts, well i was highly impressed by the way he sees culture, general knowledge. he argued that the only way to be truly outranked is not by money or social power, but by means of knowledge; that there is that awkward moment while having a conversation when the other asks whether you have read the book x. and if not x, perhaps y? or maybe z? no…oh…okay… that is the moment when they get higher than you are, and you feel it even though the other doesn’t show it.
what is more, he asked us “are money the goal or the consequence of your job?”. of course, there were more the ones who saw money as a goal – i have to disagree. i believe that you can, for a limited period of time, do something that you don’t like because you have to. but doing it over and over again? we, romanians, are one of the only civilisations that see change as a bad thing. i mean, try by all means to do that thing you enjoy most. and perhaps it doesn’t work out all that good, or maybe you see you don’t really like it…do something else. why are so many people afraid of change? i’m seventeen, and if we don’t have the time to change us, to change things around us….than who has it anymore?
one of the last subjects discussed were role models – parents and teachers and other people who have ever influenced our way of thinking. one of the answers from the crowd was that we do not need models, that we should be able to know what we want by ourselves. some guy said he knew someone who wanted to get big…how can you get big without comparing yourself to someone else? of course, i am who i am and i can be defined according to principles alone. but when you decide you don’t want to be good, but great? when you know you want to be big, you want to be the best? that is the moment when you have to see yourself in relation with others. as i’ve already said, every single person i have ever talked to has paid their part to who i am today. i know people i don’t like, and they are models of “not like this”. having a model does not mean wanting to be a clone of a certain someone…but wishing to get to master that one ability you admire about them – it may only be a kind smile, or an always well-intended word to say. it may be almost nothing, though it always is a lot. so yes, i am a puzzle. a puzzle made of those pieces that the rest of the world gave me. i am every person i ever admired and none of those i didn’t like…i’m part of this world, so this world has to be a part of me.
simplicate 