Szilárd VAJDA's blog

I am a rather tolerant person. However, I can not stand stupidity, ignorance, etc. And I am law abiding citizen too, and I am an incorrigible believer that my peers are as well. Wrong. 

I was born and raised in a communist country (Transylvania, Romania) -of which I am proud of, however, it took me a while to adjust myself to the new life after the Wall of Berlin came down. "Democracy! Freedom!" - people shouted in a delirium, but somehow they did not realized completely what just happened to them.  After 45 years of communist regime, things have changed, and now we are free, and ready to taste democracy in its deeper sense. Apparently, looking back after 25 years of so called democracy, it seems the democracy is bitter for many of us, and we do not like to taste it as a whole, but only those bites which are sweet. 

Democracy is a rather fragile notion, and as the society advances, we realize the multitude of gaps and loopholes, and to change things nowadays it is very difficult. I would gladly "kill the 2nd amendment" from the American Constitution, but I also know that this right was given to them by the founding fathers of the nation, therefor sacred. Of course my republican friends want to wear guns to protect themselves, but who's the enemy, who's the perpetrator? Anyhow, it seems they skipped the advancements for a couple of centuries. I hope one day they will realize, guns do more harm than good. [...]

And let's go back to our cherished democracy. We got the [wrong] impression that democracy is about our rights and privileges. It is true, it is, but usually people tend to forget about duties. Of course this is the flip side, and it is the inconvenient part of the deal, therefor not much of importance. Indeed, you have your rights and privileges, but based on the postulate of democracy your rights can go as far as the tolerance of your neighbor. You have the right to smoke, it is your [stupid] choice, but smoking near to your neighbor who does not, probably is a transgression of the democracy.

Unfortunately, in my society this boundary is not perceived as one, and people start smoking in front of you without any kind of care or remorse. They just do, because it is their right. They are free to do things, but they should respect their peers. They should walk away, and smoke somewhere, where only them they can enjoy the smoke and smell of their cigarettes, but honestly I am not interested, nor delighted to sniff in some carcinogen particles in my lung. Apparently, we enjoy democracy but we still need some good years to understand it. I am confident the day will come when people will respect their peers and act accordingly.  At that moment I will say we are really free and live in democracy.