Student at 90 years old. The life lesson of Amalia Susana Tușa, banned at the communist faculty for reasons of “social origin”
At 90 years old, Amalia Susana Tușa is a third-year student at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cluj-Napoca, majoring in Didactic Theology at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.
Amaliei-Susana Tușa is a 90-year-old student PHOTO: Facebook/UBB
At 90 years old, the curiosity of Amalia-Susana Tușa, third-year student at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cluj-Napoca, specializing in Didactic Theology, is more alive than in many young people.
She learned from a young age that life does not make concessions. At just three years old, he went through a severe encephalitis that left his speech and mobility impaired.
The years after the war brought another trial. Her father, a former policeman, was arrested in the context of the political repressions of the late 1940s. He spent a year and eight months in detention, without being found guilty.
“Social origin mattered enormously then. Because of that I couldn't finish college on time. I was even kicked out of the entrance exam,” Amalia told the UBB newspaper.
For a teenage girl who wanted to study, the stigma of “prisoner's daughter” it was a painful burden.
“However, the obstacles failed to turn her into a bitter person. On the contrary, she says that she has the gift of lifting people out of pessimism. She recalls how she helped a colleague overcome the death of his wife: “He was almost in tears every time he came. I told myself that I had to get him out of that state. It was so beautiful when I saw him smile!” His personal life was just as tumultuous. The first marriage, concluded at the age of 19, turned out to be an inappropriate choice. Divorce was difficult to obtain and socially stigmatized, but she had the courage to go through with it. Three more marriages followed, marked by suffering and loss: a politically marginalized husband who died in an accident, another succumbed to illness and, later, a toxic relationship“, writes News UBB.
Although he lived through war, deprivation, injustice and illness – including a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis – he did not lose his optimism. “Courage does not mean nothing trembles in the soul. It trembles. But you must win!”
Today she is a student and looks at the younger generations with a combination of affection and exactingness. “They're not curious enough. Sometimes they don't ask, they don't push to understand.” She is bothered by the lack of punctuality and good manners, which she considers essential in a society that aspires to intellectual status.
Although she is a practicing Greek-Catholic, she studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology following a joint project between the faculty and the Greek-Catholic center of which she is a part. She says that the invitation to enroll was a huge joy for her, especially since all her life she felt that she could not pursue university studies at the right time.
At the same time, he maintains his critical spirit towards changes in society. He believes that people have become more superficial and easier to influence, and humanity has diminished, especially in the urban environment. “What hasn't changed? Lying. And meanness.”
If she were to write a book about her life, the title would be “Survival”.
