Vivid Foreword February 2005

Regulars
FOREWORD
You too can be like Bill Gates

February 2005

I do recall a Vivid article written several years ago on how individualistic Romanians can be. The author, Andrew Taylor, wrote that one of the most debilitating legacies of communism was that it imbued Romanians with a sense of individualism – meaning that to look after one’s own interests was far more of a priority than to think of the community as a whole.

That isn’t so surprising, coming after a 40-year experiment designed, in theory at least, to look after one’s fellow man. If Romanians are a selfish people then they cannot be blamed. Rather, blame it on the 40-year experiment that tried to impose a sense of caring on them via authoritarianism, an experiment that we all know went disastrously wrong.

What does this mean, that a sense of community is lacking? The next time you’re in a block, have a look at how the communal areas are unswept, littered, unheated. There might be doors of letterboxes lying open on one hinge, empty soft drink cans strewn about the place, and graffiti scrawled on the lift door. Whenever a window is broken, it takes weeks, months sometimes, to repair, and the entire communal area looks like it could do with a new coat of paint.

But then, once you’ve alighted from the lift and are inside an apartment, there is every comfort of home: modern lighting throughout, a modern television, DVD player and stereo in the sitting room, a microwave and a well stocked fridge in the kitchen. Romanians are nothing if not house-proud.

Certainly the country’s politicians have done next to nothing to promote a sense of community, when they could and should have taken the lead. Shortly before last year’s mayoral elections a friend commented on how nice the park had become in Bucur Obor. All that had been done was that the grass had been properly mown, some landscape gardening had occurred, some plants planted and benches painted. This was the absolute minimum that could have been done. Putting aside the fact that it was done immediately before an election in a vain and obvious attempt at wooing voters, the impact on the community was huge. For the rest of the summer the park was packed. A little really goes a long way in Romania.

Contrast this with a relatively wealthier country like Australia, where the sense of community stretches well beyond national borders to include its Asian-Pacific neighbours. This has never been better illustrated than during the days that immediately followed the devastation that the tsunami wrought in the Indian Ocean. Australians mobilised to help very quickly. The government pledged tens of millions of dollars in aid, and when it became clear that more money was going to be raised privately, the government committed tens of millions more. In the media, the subject dwarved anything else for weeks afterwards; for the fortnight that followed, the first ten or twelve pages of all leading newspapers contained nothing but tsunami-related news.

Volunteers willing to help in any capacity signed up by the thousand. Money literally poured in from everywhere. Huge amounts were raised through collections at schools. At every corner shop there would be senior citizens asking for any spare change one might have. A cricket match, ‘Asia v the Rest of the World’ was held; humble groundsmen and ushers donated their services free of charge, sponsors put up $50,000 for every six that was scored, and auctions afterwards of the players' shirts raised another $400,000. In all more than $15 million was raised, just from a cricket match that had featured the world’s best players, had been attended by more than 70,000 people and had been organised in 11 days.

At the height of the coverage, news came through that Sandra Bullock, the film star, had contributed $1 million. It is difficult not to be touched by such a gesture, but really, why shouldn’t she? She and perhaps 250 other A-list film stars would be paid tens of millions of dollars a year for the films they make, the majority of which are nothing more than a waste of time. We are supposed to think it hugely magnanimous of her, but a wider question is why more people like her did not do the same.

What is impressive, however, is the approach of Microsoft boss Bill Gates. His latest donation - $750 million, to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation - is the latest move in his plan to give most of his fortune away during his lifetime. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has almost doubled the amount spent on malaria research, provided whole nations with the wherewithal to combat HIV/Aids, and poured cash into into the high-risk, low return hunt for vaccines to combat a raft of diseases.

Now that is largesse for you. I reckon we could all do with taking a leaf out of Mr Gates' book a little bit more.