Education
I always believed and still do that if you study you will achieve more in life. You have new directions opening ahead of you, you can easily identify what you know and what you do not know, and in the end you keep on growing since you develop the passion for learning while studying, or at least I did.
During the last ten days I was on holiday, actually on a trip to my home town, where the entire family celebrated my grandmother, she turned 85 and is amazing. Still full of life, of energy, smiling, sometimes complaining (but she is allowed right?). During my stay I had the chance of talking to some of my friends, old schoolmates, acquitances and in the end I always had one question in my head.
Does education bring you further in Romania?
So many of the people I know struggle to get a well paid job, some struggle to get a job at all. So many are not happy where they are, they do feel the need to move on but do not know where. Some do not understand what to do next, they seem lost. So few are actually happy with their life. Reasons behind this state? Many I am sure.
But one main reason is education. Many wonder if they did chose the right profession, and one example which will always remain in my memories linked with this visit is the one of a young woman I met at the airport in Timisoara. I went for an espresso (the love for my coffee never stops!) and the lady at the bar serving it was very friendly and we started chatting. Turns out that she studied at the same high school, did go to the university and graduated with honours as an environmental engineer. And was working for 2 years at the bar since this is the only job she found. Day after day, min. 12 hours and was only dreaming of getting out of the situation but saw no exit. And then you wonder - is this what you studied for? 16 years of learning!
So in the end what you choose as your profession is what the markets wants? What happens with your vocation? How should the young ones decide what they want to do in the future?
Education is key, and as Albert Einstein said “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”, but the question is which direction to choose? And I do believe that this is a key question for many societies, which have to re-discover its potential!