It's true: one person really can change the world.
This is the story of how one person started the 1989 revolution in Romania.
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. A number of revolutionary groups were in existence before that Dec. 20 evening. The five-day revolution in which more than 100,000 people were killed, and President Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife were executed on Christmas day, was already well in the making. But it took one man to throw the spark into the sawdust and turn a bunch of revolutionaries into a revolution.
And he did it all by accident.
The man was, coincidentally, my boyfriend's ex-wife's cousin, Virgil. He was an ordinary sort of guy, a plumber who was pretty much happy with his lot in life. He had no particular political aspirations or ideologies. He hadn't really been planning to start a revolution that evening.
It just so happened that Virgil and his cousin were wandering around, when they stumbled across a very large group of pissed-off civilians facing off with a large group of military people. When the firing started, Virgil took his cousin by the arm and said, "Let's get out of here."
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They started to make their way down a side alley. Well, at just about that moment, the military began dispersing the crowd by forcing them down alleyways. So here Virgil and his cousin are, stuck in an alley with about 20,000 people running for their lives right behind them, and no way to outrun them or get out of the way.
So Virgil did the only thing he could think of. He turned around and yelled, "STOP!"
And 20,000 people stopped.
And waited for him to say something. He can't remember exactly what it was that came out of his mouth, but it was something to the effect of, "Now is the time for revolution! Go back and fight!" After he spoke on in that vein for a couple of minutes, everybody turned around, went back and fought.
So Virgil and his cousin went back to their apartment and spent the rest of the revolution there drinking large quantities of beer and watching the fight from the balcony.
After the military switched sides and the president was deposed, a general tracked Virgil down and gave him a certificate for his role in sparking the revolution. Other than that, not much has changed for Virgil. He's still a plumber, and still pretty happy with his lot in life.
He just happens to be an accidental revolutionary instigator as well.
I'll bet that isn't what people generally have in mind when they say one person can change the world. But if one person can do all that by accident, just imagine what one person can do deliberately.
Of course, there's probably a pretty miniscule chance that you'll just happen to stumble into the path of 20,000 fleeing revolutionaries, and have the opportunity to turn them back to fight. But who says you have to start a revolution? I'm guessing most people aren't really interested in doing that, anyway.
The point is, you can do something. When a problem arises these days, it seems most people think the answer is the government should do something. The University administration should do something. The school board should do something. The military should do something. Some activist group should do something. Corporations should do something. The police should do something. Somebody should do something - as long as it isn't me.
I've been reading "The Mirror of Her Dreams" by Stephen R. Douglas to detox from paper writing and studying. There's this recurring quote in it: "Problems should be solved by the people who see them."
I think that's a pretty good philosophy. If you see a problem, why wade through layers of bureaucracy looking for somebody else to handle it? Why not just do something about it yourself? Or if it can't be handled by just one person, then find some like-minded people and do something about it together. Why not?
Maybe all the problems in the world just seem too big. But all those big problems are ultimately only the sum of little problems, all the little things that affect individuals' lives. Those are things that individuals can definitely handle.
And don't forget, one lone plumber was able to spark a revolution by accident. If he could do it for a whole country, surely you can spark a revolution of sorts for your backyard.
Send revolutionary accidents to Sari Krosinsky at michal_kro@hotmail.com.
