Modern life has conquered and changed the way of life step by step, almost did not even notice the changes around us.
We woke up suddenly surrounded and choked by cars. I'm not just talking about big cities, now even villages are invaded by cars.
That's how I perceive this moment, I don't know if this is valid everywhere. A problem in my country, Romania.
I am convinced that you don't know what happened in this part of the world where I live, Eastern Europe. A part of the world where most countries have lived the experience of communism, "thanks" to their proximity to Russia, that is, the USSR (Do you know the Beatles song called: Back in the U.S.S.R.?)
Let me explain. People in these countries didn't have too many rights and too many things. The hardest thing to endure was the lack of ... freedom, with all that it means. The freedom to say what you think, the freedom to travel, the freedom to hold certain things. One of these things was cars. It wasn't even forbidden to own a car but almost no one could afford it. Only the nomenclature, the privileged as the senior members of the communist party, the army and the security owned cars.
What do I mean by that? As fifty years ago the streets and boulevards were deserted, a car rarely passed. We watched the few American and western European films and envied the capitalist way of life, the fact that their streets were full of cars.
I didn't imagine that this situation would change and that we will regret it, it was very difficult to imagine. After communism was replaced by capitalism and in this part of the world people were overwhelmed by the frenzy of shopping. Normally, they wanted to avenge fifty years of shortcomings and bans.
The biggest wish of all (of course me too) was to buy cars! New cars were too expensive so almost everyone chose to buy used cars from western Europe. These were very old but ... cheap! The result was that almost all people were able to buy cars. Slowly, slowly we were suffocated by cars, especially as the road infrastructure was undeveloped.
I was going to say that fast but it wasn't so fast ... after twenty years since the break-up of communism, I found out that we have many, many cars and we can hardly move with them. Maybe only on vacation but in the cities where we live cars have transformed from the most desired object to the most distressed object.
Thus our life has changed, only cars around us. The streets are full of cars, crossing a street becomes a difficult thing to do. Now I started thinking about the old days, without cars, noise and pollution.
International day without cars
This Sunday I had a big surprise. I left in the morning to drink regular coffee and something strange seemed to be around me. At first I didn't realize what was happening but later I understood. There were no cars on the streets anymore! People were walking the streets without fear of being hit by cars, children were playing without parents being worried. Bicyclists everywhere. Very happy!
The pedestrians took control of all the streets and again felt the joy of the pleasure ride. Now for just a day but I felt the taste again. Soon we will want more and more ...
Of course, the coffee also contributed to make me think again that this day was not only beautiful but also sublime!
I also had a nice surprise, I found on YouTube a video with John Lennon. A song I didn't know!
Small things and happenings that beautify our lives and days. Our friends, @ace108 and @c0ff33a will understand why and how, because they launched #beautifulsunday and #sublimesunday! A wonderful way to share our beautiful moments.