The Nocturne Cultural Dilemma

22:30. Somewhere in Hungary. Dark and windy. Driving into the night I see a train barrier coming down. I swear (the delay) in my head. I stop the car.

Thinking about stepping off the car, I open the door. A pale of frozen wind hits my face. I quickly change ideas and shut the door close, retreating in the cozy warmth of the car. Just as I do this, I see outside a couple of pedestrians, stopped besides the car, at the barrier. Although she is obviously freezing, they wait. As I look at them I wonder: “Are they waiting for someone?”, “Why the hell are they waiting around in this cold?”.

10 minutes later, the train passes. I focus back on resuming the trip. But as I glance out the window, I realize in shock that the freezing couple is moving further on the sidewalk just as the barrier goes up. I look at them again, peacefully moving across tracks on the freshly cleared sidewalk and cannot stop asking myself “Why the f*&% were they waiting for so long?”

Within 2 minutes I realize (in even greater shock) that the question might be as well self-addressed: “Why the hell am I so shocked?”
Answer comes easy: I could bet that in Romania at no time and under no circumstances pedestrians would wait at the barrier. A Romanian pedestrian would move two steps to the right, get off the sidewalk, take a look to the left, one to the right and cross peacefully ignoring the barriers. As in, barriers are not for pedestrians, they are for the stupid! And those stupid drivers that need to wait since they can’t have such a “brilliant” alternative. Cause’ if they’d do… they’d use it!

Now I come back and try to sketch the bigger picture. Hungary is in the UE. We’re not. Yet. Will be, starting Jan the 1st. Hungarians apparently follow rules, respect systems even with the price o a frozen nose. Romanians’ wide belief is that rules are either for the dumber (as in, those that cannot manage a “combinatie”) or for those that would rather hide behind them to keep safe.

What do we make of this? Will we be an addition to the beloved union, the fresh blood with the “lateral” thinking? Will we be the burden of the misbehaved child? Will they insist on teaching us a “lesson”? Will we insist?

In 5 years from now, would I be waiting at a barrier in a freezing night or would I be walking straight around it and move on as if the barrier would not even exist?