In the news.

Romania's making international news!

It's a rarity, so we thought we should acknowledge it here too.  Because this news is both tragic and hopeful, both terrible and full of promise.

On Halloween, a fire broke out at a nightclub in Bucharest.  Apparently the band had decided to shoot off fireworks indoors, and the interior soundproofing materials which covered the club quickly caught fire.  With only a single exit and pieces of burning insulation falling from the ceiling, things quickly turned into chaos.  It didn't take long until the roof collapsed.  Thirty-two people were killed on the scene, with another hundred-some taken to the hospital with critical burns and other injuries.  Blame for this tragedy can be placed in a lot of places: on the nightclub owners, who allowed a band to shoot off fireworks in a place clearly not-fireproofed; on the fire marshal and other inspectors, who allowed the business to remain open despite clear violations of code; on a general culture of corruption and bribery that allows regulations to be enforced only for those who can't pay to skip over them.  Romanians are furious about the event, and the owners of the club have been arrested and multiple officials have already resigned -- including the mayor of that sector of Bucharest, the interior minister, and the prime minister, Victor Ponta.

Since Sunday, there have been protests happening across the country.  On Wednesday I was on the bus for much of the day, returning to Lupeni from a conference, and the reporters on the radio just kept adding to the number of protesters they counted in Bucharest's University Square -- by 10pm it was well over 30,000.  Many of the protesters are young, and they're sad and furious.  "People shouldn't have to die for us to deal with these issues," President Klaus Iohannis said.  But in this case, people did die, and the horror of it has Romanians on the streets.

It will be a long road to truly arrive in a place where democracy and rule of law function without corruption -- I'm not sure there's a country anywhere in the world that's truly corruption-free.  But the level of obvious corruption in Romania has had terrible consequences, and we are praying that the protests will lead to some serious and profound changes.

We've seen signs saying Bunicii la război, parinții la revoluție, acum este rândul nostru! -- or in English, "Our grandparents had the [world] war, our parents had the revolution [to end communism], now it's our turn!"  It might be true -- this might be the wake-up call that this generation of young Romanians need to truly get involved in making their country a place they want to live.  But please join us in praying that there will be wisdom, and patience, and prudence along the way.  A lot of people died in the war and the revolution.  Pray that no one else will die in this fight -- and especially that hope for an end to corruption would stay alive.