Trust me, we will all come back to Lithuania – to die…

By Nellie Vin, Florida

I am one who left Lithuania in 1996 after we got independence in 1990. In few years the country’s economists, with Landsbergis as the head on top, crushed all too fast (with privatization) without providing and helping with starting of small business and lowering taxes for new business people. Finally imported, cheap products from Poland killed local farmers’ business. It’s become not profitable to grow own organic healthy products and sell for Lithuanian people. Many people left to look for opportunities in other countries. Still young and older people are leaving. No one wants to wait. We need today! Not to wait on promises for a better tomorrow.

We saw that from 1990, nothing changed, even got worse. If someone makes enough money from the work the major pay came in envelopes from the company, not shown in the books, for tax purposes. This meant that if a person got 2000 LT in an envelope he was getting just 650 LT on the records. Now, what will happen when this person will be retired? What retirement payments will he get? Of course just from 650LT.

Why, in our country, we have people who became billionaires in short time? They were selling cheap retail products made in other countries. They "killed" local textile and production business in Lithuania.

Now it’s not so bad, but Grybauskaite, before the presidential election, promised dual citizenship for everyone. After getting elected she completely forgot this promise. They finally passed the bill, but just for people who left the country before 1990. Why? Was that right? Did it not contradicting with human rights? Some can make a choice, some can’t. If they have to make a choice they will lose the Lithuania Citizenship. It’s a question. My son serving in Navy in US now lost Lithuania citizenship because he just, last month, become US citizen. I am, very proud of him. He made a choice, he chose the country that gave him work.

He still very much loves his birth country Lithuania but as there is no bill yet to have dual citizenship in Lithuania, this pushed him make a choice. I, and my younger son are still waiting for the dual citizenship bill. My youngest son is a student of Jacksonville University, last year in business and management. We still are holding love and passports of Lithuania, but for how long? 

We need today to live, to learn and to make right decisions. It’s still just long years of talk. I was now in 2010 in Lithuania, spend over 6 months looking for what I can do in Lithuania to get back to live there. Contacted old friends who are in good positions in politics when we all were fighting for independence. Everyone sit in their chairs and the only one answer I got, was; we have 10 year long waiting list. What that means? To get to politician chair because it’s well paid all already busy?

I wanted just work not a chair. But to get good work you must belong to the party. I left again, because I didn't see changes over the 12 years after I left. Forgive my accent I learned English in 3 months in US because after I arrived and all my working time I didn't had time to get proper English education.

My sons did and I am very proud of them. But we made it… It’s not easy to start in the foreign country without language, friends family etc. But we make choices if we logically not see possibilities to change economic situation in Lithuania or we just see government don’t care about people of their own country, often people who were living there for generations. 

Still not easy but in US more possibilities at this moment. These are my thoughts, nothing personal. I can be wrong, but this is just my observations.

Trust me, we all want to come back … And we will get back …To die ….

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