Day 261 – Mr Clint Eastwood from Romania

Day 261 - Mr Clint Eastwood from Romania

If I told you a thousand times that I love traveling by train, I’ll tell it once again. Trains are a great place to really talk to people, to listen to true stories from with you could actually learn something.

On my way back to Bucharest from Miercurea Ciuc, a man sat down in front of me at the Brasov station. After I while he put out a box of food, and after a few minutes he had his eyes shut and he was praying. I thought “Wow he has such a big faith!” and I appreciated him for this gesture. But he did not eat.  I saw him gazing into the oh so beautiful scenery from the window. It looked like his thoughts were moving as fast as the train was. He had such an interesting look in his eyes. Then I noticed his ticket being placed in his front pocket, so that made me think he was quite organized, not like me, my ticket was in my bag between a t shirt, some crackers and some makeup :).

I wanted to know what was behind this image I’ve made about him, just by looking. So I gathered my courage and presented myself to him. I told him that he looked so interesting and he remembered me of Clint Eastwood. His reaction was a positive one and started talking with me immediately. His name is Gheorghe. After a while he thanked me for talking to him because he was thinking about his worries and he wasn’t feeling well. Remember when I saw him praying? He was praying because he had a sickness attack, he had some problems with his circulatory system. He was praying to get through it, and then he was praying for thanking he was ok and about his wife who is also sick at home.

We talked about vices and how they affect our lives, about the attitude that can make a change in our country and in our generation, about how a social environment can have such a big effect on one’s education, about chances and his children. He was so proud of them. He was so emotional while talking about his son from the army, an officer,  he talked about being a grandfather twice this year. He was upset of the communist system that was depriving him of his freedom, but said that today  some people have to much freedom and they are using it in the wrong way. He told me about some mistakes he did and that it’s a good way to learn from other’s mistakes. He was so upset that he was getting older and that his inner active part wasn’t correlating with his sick worn body.

I was impressed by him story: A young artist from a music high school that makes some mistake with a bit too much alcohol. He took youth for granted and then he realized it’s importance. He loved his wife very much, he was taking care of her because she was stuck in bed with a paralizia, even though he himself was not feeling so well. Despite his big problems, he was proud of his children that turned out to make him proud. He was conscious about his mistakes in life and about his wonderful things in his present life. I had such a nice conversation with him and I am happy that I made his trip better. Also I got the chance to make a photo so precious for me, for my project.

We get lost and lonely in the daily routine, I would love to talk like that to more people.

P.S.: Sorry for the big text, I wanted to remember my discussion with him.