A Ful-Bright Professor

I was born and received an undergraduate education in the South-East European country of Romania.

I was born at a time when the candlelight of Communism was running out of oxygen, and as we hoped and prayed for then, disappearing from the annals of History.

Little did we know that Communism, like a bad penny, would keep on coming back, no matter how much we were trying to put it out of its misery or at least move and get over it.

Life in Romania after the Revolution of 1989 was a rollercoaster ride. Every single day, opportunities ran galore for those in the know who had an inkling of what was happening around them while stark poverty was the lot of middle-class Romanians, who as it turned out, were about to get shafted by the Reform towards Capitalism.

Now, I am not going to bash Capitalism, which in spite of all its shortcomings (i.e., Greed), never disappointed those who got out in the morning from their homes determined to make it in this silly little world of ours. You earn, you get to make a life for yourself. You don’t, Capitalism promises you a life among the rejects and junkeys. Fair is fair. Whether you operate out of cave in 20,000 B.C. or in downtown Ottawa in 2026, you hunt/gather/work, you’re good. You do not, you starve, fail, and then you die.

I leave the bashing to the motherfucking wokist cretins, who have forgotten (have they ever known though?) the legacy of Communism: mass deportation, mass starvation, mass murder, mass misery, and mass disinterest in Life.

I for one was at the time naively hopeful. I kept placing all my bets on a better future, ruled by incredible scientific advances the likes of which I hoped would turn our world into a better one by 2025. I imagined a world whereby nobody wanted for the basics, and everybody had a chance to reach for the stars. Oh sweet naivete! Oh boyo! Oh for my Resource Based Economy Fresquian delusions. Forsooth!

I know, I know… how deluded was I to believe that our generation would turn Sci-Fi into everyday reality!!! I guess I was a freaking dreamer, baby… and I think I still am at heart, but my mind is clearly attuned to the reality on the ground.

Nowadays one stands to lose one’s life chasing dreams of a better tomorrow.

Still nobody would call me an Idealist, even if they wanted to go out on a limb.

I guess that makes me a cold-hearted Realist and that’s that.

I do not spend my days wishing ill on those who have millions and billions in money. I try to do my bit by my family, friends, and myself. I try to use my lights to illuminate a path through the minefield we call our existence, where all the smiling faces hide Shakespearean daggers, and where everybody else who pretends to be your friend, is a breath away from dimming your lights, if it meant prolonging theirs for a moment more.

It’s a Dog Eat Dog world out there, and I recognize it for what it is. Not what it might have been, had our generation put down the foot, and demanded change violently when we were young and unencumbered by family, duty, or debt.

But that is neither here nor there. What matters most is that education made me the man I am today. And for that I owe a lot to a singular man of outstanding parts.

Preface or How Geopolitics barged into the China shop of my teenager existence

I became an adult during the Yugoslavian wars, when America chose to become the world’s sole policeman, by bombing all those who wanted a different saying in the running of the world. So, yeah like today with Venezuela and Iran but with different bad guys.

I saw and heard with my own ears, the explosions wrecking Novi Sad in Serbia in 1999. And I witnessed first hand how American interventionism manifested itself via air strikes and rapacious investors who came, saw, and conquered… Romania from Romanians.

I had two experiences with Americans in the early 2000s.

1. One day, overnight, an adjacent building whose back wall faced our inner courtyard exhibited 3 industrial sized HVAC units. These equipments were meant to improve the quality of life for a New York American Jew, who had just moved into neighbourhood. The dude showed up one day and decided to upgrade his newly acquired property, without a second-thought for his Romanian neighbours. The man had been born in September 1939 in NYC harbour, and was perhaps harbouring some sort of resentment against Romanians, although I could not be certain of this. Fact is when I represented to him that his HVAC units prevented me from ever sleeping again due to their noise levels, the man raised his shoulders and asked me: “What can I do you for?” I immediately told him that they either went away since they were infringing upon our property or alternatively, he’d have to reach into his pockets and come to a financial arrangement with his neighbour. To his he said: “I won’t pay you a cent. You won’t see a dime from me.” And that was the last time he spoke to me. This was also my 1st experience with an American. Now that I think of it, he was a New York Jew. Think Bernie Sanders but only rich and entitled and self-centered. The man was in his 60s, and yet was dating my colleague’s sister who was 19-years-old at the time. So, no, Phil, cause that was his name, was not another Bernie. He was an Epstein-like character if I had to put him in a box.
2. My 2nd experience involving an American, was quite different. Mind you, at the time, I was a History undergraduate student at the University of Bucharest. I was studying International Relations and cared deeply about the Truth. I still do actually. 🙂 Fact is that Professor Latham had seen the world both as a Foreign Service diplomat during the Cold War, as well as a Fulbright tenured professor, who had come to teach Geopolitics at the uni, in 2000. The man was a treasure mine. He treated us like his entourage more than a bunch of disjointed students, which we certainly were. I should have a picture with him somewhere. Yes, I do. Just made a digital copy. Professor Latham regaled us with stories of his days on station in Istanbul where he had been sent on his first posting back in the 70s. It was on the shores of the Bosphorus that he learned the harsh difference between the Italian brew they sipped back in the States and the true Turkish stuff made of 90% ground coffee beans and 10% hardcore juice. The man almost choked to death when he tried to drink it in one shot. You live, you learn, he said, and one cannot say fairer than that. Anyhow, Professor Latham taught us many interesting things. He explained to us what National Means of Verification are. Hint: spy satellites. He told us that we must always look at the envelope, meaning we must always seek to identify who was talking to whom. He made sure to educate us into becoming self-reliant, independent critical thinkers, who would follow the money wherever that led us. He was also the only person who went out on the limb and gave me not one but two stellar references: a written letter upon my graduation, that I’ve kept to this day, and another equally valuable testimony that attested to my academic grounding and qualifications, which he gave me more than 10 years later, when as an applicant to the University of Ottawa graduate programs, I reached out to him. Professor Latham was a consummate diplomat, an eminent Fulbright professor, and a good man.

Unfortunately, he stopped responding to my emails. He must have passed by now. He was in his mid 60s in 2000. By now, he’s either too old to respond to my emails or gone. But Professor Latham is not truly gone. He lives on in our memory where he made his mark. And that is why I think he was not only Fulbright but also very bright in deed, eh. 🙂

Although we were never close, the man was good to me. That’s why I cherish his memory. I think I always will. He was an American gentleman who came out in the Romanian boonies to help us young students find a way to get a grip on the world around us. He worked hard to convey the lessons he had learned during his life. He did not have much time. He was only our prof. for a semester. But he made the most of it. He made us better for it. He labored every day to make sure we seize our opportunities by opening our eyes. He was focussed on teaching us that adaptability is an asset and that learning a second language will go a long way towards giving us a leg in life over the stiff competition engendered by tens of millions of students, all hungry for affirmation and vying for a successful career and money.

The man did his utmost to make us grow into the adults we would later become. For this I will forever be grateful.

Thank you, Professor Ernest Latham, wherever you are, thank you!