The Heritage

I remember when I was little, my grandparents, due to some peculiar, local, probably communist tradition, were "related" to a local communist family, I mean, they were godparents to their child or something like that, I don't remember what their relationship was exactly, nor do I know why this was inflicted on everyone from both sides.
Because every time these families had to get together for some occasion, that gathering ended in arguments, swearing, and insults, I mean - my grandfather to the man from that family, and this happened every single time, despite warnings to my grandfather from everyone in the family before. He just couldn't help it. And every time the evening ended in this ugly way.

At the time I thought that was very stupid. That one had to bury one's political beliefs for at least one evening in order to have peace and understanding for at least one evening. But I don't think so anymore either. I mean, now I know that it is just not possible. Because of a simple incident in my life in recent months.

You know, I was admitted to the hospital last year to have tests done. Before I went there, there was also this worry about what kind of person I would be in the same room with. Rather, how many and what kind of women I would be in the same room with.

In Bulgaria, there is always a chance that you will come across a person who does not observe even basic hygiene and smells. This is more common in men, but my God, I have encountered it in women too. In addition, it is very possible that the person could also turn out to be a thief and what not.
While I was preparing for my admission to the hospital and searching the internet for information on what I should take with me, I came across a hospital website that insisted that no valuables be brought into the hospital, and that you should always carry your money, phone, and documents with you everywhere. All of this, on the hospital's official website, suggests that thefts often occur at this hospital, either by patients or by staff. And this is probably not an isolated case only there.
So I was genuinely relieved when, in the room they put me in, I saw a rather good-looking, even still pretty, clean and tidy 70-year-old woman who wore light makeup, was well-dressed and, in short, completely different from at least 80% of women her age, the so-called typical retirees in the country.
Why this was so, I would find out later.

But our first contact, our initial, quite ordinary conversation, ended in tension.
So I, maybe 15 minutes into our conversation, I was kind of forced to ask her what her political beliefs were - left or right, without even mentioning names of parties, in order to be as tactful as possible. And when I got the obvious answer straight out - leftist beliefs, I simply changed the direction of our conversations, or simply paid more attention to what I said, how I said it, and how I expressed myself. So that there would be no more tension. Because I had to spend three whole days with this woman. Without tension.

This woman, so good-looking and obviously well-off, unlike the average Bulgarian pensioner, had been the director of the local branch of an important government agency in the city she lived in, for many years. She, as she later told me, came from an uneducated working-class family from some remote village, as one would expect the communist electorate to be and the origin of the communist party supporters who later rose to power. Her husband, also from uneducated peasants, was also some kind of head of a unit in the local police department. As are also expected to be the employees of the police authority in the country, and even more so - the directors. Before or now, it does not matter, because everything is the same today, just as it was before.

And don't think that we talked about politics - during that first moment of our meeting. It is wrong to think that in this truly polarized country, where people have always been and continue to be, so extremely divided from each other, people are always talking about politics. And with this sole purpose - to quarrel, to have a scandal.

We talked about culture, about poetry, about history, about architecture.
It all started with the question - where do you live? And then we talked about the poets inevitably associated with these cities. Then about architecture and history. And all of this, of course, was intertwined with the miserable communist past of our country. In which one part, these educated, intelligent, moral and reasonable people were trampled and repressed, imprisoned and killed, while the uneducated representatives of the working class, the immoral but obedient supporters of the Party, flourished, were placed in leadership positions, looked after, received a lot of money and so on.

My grandfather was an educated man, he was a luminary in medicine in his time, but he had a terribly unhappy life, made deliberately unhappy by the authorities who hindered him at every step of his life. Denunciations were written about him until the last day of his life by an incompetent doctor, a member of the communist party, who lived in the same village.
The man with whom he was supposed to spend traditional family dinners was also an uneducated member of the communist party with an easy life. I don't know much about him. But I know that other members of the Party in this village, uneducated, who had only finished the third grade of school, were carefully looked after, placed, if not in leadership positions, then in very peaceful positions in which they could spend their days carefree until retirement.

My other grandfather, as an educated and moral man (he was a teacher), was even sent to a concentration camp because he refused to cooperate with the authorities in vile deeds. His life later also went from difficulty to difficulty, from obstacle to obstacle. (Why did I think that my life would be easy then after all this, with such an inheritance?)

And both of my grandfathers didn't live long. One died at 77, the other didn't even make it to 70. And it wasn't because they were sick. I mean, they were sick because they were unhappy, because their lives had gone by so unhappily. Both of them seemed to have passed away with "broken hearts," the illnesses they died from showed....

And since this post has become so long again, I think I will finish my thought in the next one and tell you exactly what I mean by writing all this.

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|