If someone affects every minor decision of someone else, probably this person can control the entire life of someone else. If it’s the same person, this person can control his own life. Probably this is how culture, weather, or self discipline affects how we live. When I left Japan, all I was thinking about was the repair cost of the apartment I rented in Yokohama. My future was too far, how to reach France was all that mattered to me. If that young man in his late 20s staring at the airplane wing shining in the last evening sun that he saw in Japan was told he was going to affect the municipal policy in an eastern European city, he wouldn’t have believed it. He wouldn’t even have seen the path to get there.
Winter is coming and the second wave is coming to Europe. Romania, which was exempted from any previous historical plague, is facing this pandemic like the rest of the world. Bucharest is the worst hit place in the country and it’s prolonging the restriction measures to slow the infection. Schools remain online for two more weeks, indoor seats in cafes and restaurants are prohibited. The difference from the previous restrictions is that the parks remain open all day.
In August, I analysed the first European lockdowns and concluded the seven winners ,including Denmark, Norway, Czech, Slovakia and Finland, succeeded because they kept the parks open and kept the mobility in residential areas low. I made a report and translated it into Romanian with the great help of my Romanian teacher. It was a sort of the extension of my daily practice of analysis and Romanian language. However, no one else mentioned the effectiveness of the parks, so why don’t I inform the policy maker of my discovery. I sent a message to the President of Romania. About one month later, I was notified that my report had the attention of the policy makers and the Covid-19 taskforce will use my analysis for the next decisions. Thus we can jog in the parks this week in Bucharest. Reportedly they had a discussion about the closure of the parks at night. It means the policy makers correctly understood the connection between the parks and the sunlight. After all, they decided to keep the parks open during the night. Probably this is to keep the mobility in residential areas low during the night. I hope this will curb the infections in Bucharest in the coming weeks. I also hope people in Bucharest like to keep the parks open this time.
Now the argument is about schools. Some parents insist children should go to school to learn how to socialize. They believe children need other children to mentally grow up. This is true for some children, and not true for some children. Children learn from other children, but do those other children learn ? Children don’t go to school to teach. They learn from the teachers, they don’t have to teach other children. Homeschooling is not deterioration of education but it’s a change. Like in person schools benefitted only some children, homeschooling benefits some children. Not all the children learn how to socialize at school, and they don’t have to learn the old school way of socializing anymore. Sometimes children stop each other growing up and smart children have to hide their talent not to be too obvious and bullied. Sometimes a child takes initiatives only because he’s physically grown but other children have nothing to learn from him. Whether the pandemic continues or not, what we went through in 2020 will change our world permanently. More workers will remain working from home. The society will be more driven by science and information technology. How we communicate will change dramatically and we will rely more on virtual communication. Disciplining oneself to learn even on the screen will be essential to live. Children now will be the foundation of our future. They go to school to learn the future, not the past because something that affects every minor decision builds one’s entire life, and children build our future. Let the children fly for the future. Don’t make them learn the outdated skills.
