Dispatches From a High-Trust Society
or what it's like to live in one of the last remaining oases of civilization
When Communism was still a thing in Europe, most people longed for democracy. But what they wanted had nothing to do with voting or multiparty coalitions but all the nice, shiny stuff like blue jeans and Coca-Cola that democracy produced.
Today, that legacy lives on around here, even though there are plenty of second-hand pairs of blue jeans on sale (most of them dumped from American organizations like Goodwill) and real Coca-Cola in the store.
In essence, the eternal promise is that happiness lies in having money because with money, you can buy nice things. Just last year, someone here opened a clothing store (which sells jeans) called “Billionaire” precisely because that mentality remains.
But I didn’t move here to make money or because there are so many lovely things to buy. I moved here because of all the things money can’t buy.
And yet, over and over again, no one who lives here really gets it. So let me see if I can put it into words.
Cats of Tiraspol
The very first thing I noticed when I first visited this place in 2017, aside from the somewhat scary symbolism at the border, was all the cats.
In every neighborhood, everywhere you go, there are cats. Sometimes, they’re lounging in the sun. Other times, they’re playing with one another. Sometimes, they’re hunting birds.
Normally, it’s only in Muslim countries (or Israel) where you see a lot of stray cats around, and that’s because of religious prejudices against dogs. Sadly, though, a lot of stray cats in these countries (including Israel) are dirty, neglected animals who survive off of eating trash.
Here, though, they all look healthy. And that’s because they’re well-fed. I personally feed a dozen cats every day, and there are many, many others like me throughout the city that I’ve seen, albeit they’re mostly old ladies, and dumpster diving isn’t a common occurrence.
People also put out cardboard boxes lined with plastic so the cats have a shelter in wet weather.
Aside from my general love for cats, the reason why seeing so many of them impressed me was because it told me this was a peaceful city. Cats don’t find it conducive to live in areas which have a lot of street crime, civil unrest, or are generally unpleasant for humans.
In other words, an abundance of cats = peace.
And as someone who has lived here for six years, I can attest that it’s true. This is a very peaceful place, and I probably see at least three dozen cats (not mine!) every day in my walk around the neighborhood.
Tranquility Base
When we bought our house four years ago, we were given a box of keys. I honestly have no idea what some of those keys are for, but amongst them somewhere is the key to our front door.
We’ve never once used it. I know my front door technically can be locked - it’s just we’ve never felt the need to do so.
Our house is surrounded by a fenced-in courtyard (making it ideal for our dogs), and there are two ways to exit to the street - one via a locked door, and the other via a gate. The gate is secured by a pin that holds it in place.
For a while, we used the locked door to get in and out, but then we found it a lot easier just to lift up the pin and slid open the gate because that way, you never have to worry about remembering your keys when you leave the house.
Furthermore, I know we’re not the only ones who do this because I have personally witnessed one of my neighbors get into his yard by sliding up the pin on his gate.
Our house is situated at the end of a little street that isn’t visible from the main street, so you’d think we’d be an ideal target for any would-be burglars. But in all the years I’ve lived here, I think a grand total of one stranger (i.e. not an invited guest or a utility worker) has ever wandered down and knocked on our gate.
Long story short = I never lock up my house or my property, and I’m never worried about anyone coming here who shouldn’t. Sadly, though, my grandfather died with a gun next to his bed (in America), fearful until the last that someone was going to break in.
The Real Meaning of Community Policing
I read a whole lot of scary stories about this place before I moved here, such as that there were “undercover cops” everywhere, watching everyone’s movements, ready to pounce if yoou make one false move.
The reality, however, is that most of the cops here are unarmed. When I say “unarmed” I mean no weapons whatsoever, not just an absence of guns. I mean no tasers, clubs, ASP batons, pepper spray or anything else.
Furthermore, most cops do not even carry handcuffs. Yes, you read that right. The sole point of wearing a belt is to keep their pants up, not to carry around 50 pounds worth of gear.
Cops in America look like they’re about to storm an enemy trench. Cops around here wear blue polo shirts and a ballcap with a simple unadorned belt and trousers.
I got into a physical altercation with a guy last year, so I got a really good inside look at how the cops work. And I’m here to tell you that the way they arrested the guy who attacked me was they told him to drive his own car to the station. And yes, he complied.
Once we got into the police station, none of us were “frisked,” and we certainly were never handcuffed. One officer had us empty our pockets onto a table for visual inspection, but that was it.
Now, I do know there is a kind of SWAT team (complete with guns) here called the “Scorpions” because they occasionally do drills, but I don’t think they’ve ever been deployed for a real situation. In fact, there was a convicted felon running around and firing off a gun back in 2022, and the perpetrator was arrested without the cops firing a shot.
Furthermore, there is a separate traffic division of police, and the way they pull you over if you’re speeding or doing something else to wave a little stick, and then you obey that gesture and pull over. There are no high-speed car chases. Everyone just cooperates.
The True Meaning of Defense
There is an army here, subordinated to the Defense Ministry. Only in our case, the word “defense” means defense.
Pretty much every other country that has a “defense force” is using then in an offensive manner. Even tiny Moldova, our neighbor which is officially militarily neutral, has sent troops to places like Afghanistan to conduct missions.
Here, though, the soldiers are strictly to defend the nation. That’s it. And 99% of them sleep at home rather than live on-base or in barracks, and they never, ever carry weapons on the street.
So if you see a soldier in uniform, it’s just a guy or woman wearing camouflage clothes with a flag patch. That’s it.
This country's army has never invaded any of its neighbors, so there are no veterans suffering from PTSD or committing suicide because they can’t live with the atrocities they’ve committed.
Free Ride
I saw a guy on another Substack lamenting the end of hitchhiking in the United States.
Here, though, it’s commonplace, so much so that I’m going to tell you a story that happened to my wife recently just as illustration.
She left church and was coming home, so she went to a bus stop where people flag down rides heading into the city. But then she spied a mulberry tree nearby with fruits, so she went over and started picking and eating some.
A passing car saw what she was doing, and the driver stuck his head out of the window and asked, “Hey, are those mulberries?”
When my wife said yes, everyone in the car got out, and they all spent a few minutes picking and eating berries. The driver then gave my wife a lift into town.
My wife has hitchhiked more times than I can count. Not only is it safe for a woman on her own to do, but it’s not customary to ask for money either. People just give you rides for free.
Normal people.
Lost and Found
Another time, my wife was in the busy market doing her weekly shop. At some point when she was putting her goods into her bag, she set down her wallet and then walked away.
When she realized it was missing, she went back to the stall where she had set it down, but it was gone. The seller said he thought he had seen someone pick it up, but he couldn’t be sure who it was.
There was a lot of cash in her wallet, so my wife started to panic because we couldn’t afford to lose so much money. She went to the security office to see if maybe they’d caught the perpetrator on one of the cameras.
Just then, the guy who had picked it up came in to turn in the wallet, saying he’d found it and was worried about the owner losing it. My wife was overjoyed, and everyone was happy.
Oh, and of course, none of the money was missing.
Say Cheese
Every Saturday, there’s a man from a nearby village who drives his wife into town and they set up shop in a green space near some apartment buildings not too far from where I live.
They make all their own cheese, and so they do a lively business selling dairy products from animals they own and personally milked.
As far as I’m aware, the cheese sellers are not “licensed” in some way to sell their products, nor does anyone care. Everyone knows who they are, and there has never been a problem with food safety.
Likewise, there are lots of other people who sell everything from flowers to eggs to fruit, all while camped out on the sidewalk outside the grocery store.
Nobody has a permit to sell this food, and furthermore, despite it being direct competition for the supermarket, nobody ever asks them to move along.
Even if you do want to sell in the main market, the fee for a stall is nominal (maybe 50 cents?), and only a handful of items like raw meat have to meet certain government regulations. Everyone - and everything - else runs on a trust-based system.
Free to Be You and Me
I grew up in the 1970s in the United States, so it was commonplace for me and my friends to roam around the neighborhood without any adult supervision.
The same conditions apply here. Not only do I see children walking around or riding their bicycles or rollerblading all the time, but they’re also regularly tasked to go to the grocery store to pick up a few items for the family.
I’m older now, so it always makes me grin when I see a truly little kid hand over a pile of coins and notes to the cashier that you can tell she/he has been carefully hanging onto in order to buy milk or whatever.
And while I haven’t seen a case of a little kid buying a pack of smokes for mommy (with permission), I’m quite sure it happens.
Meanwhile, letting your kid move around outdoors unattended can get you arrested in the United States these days. My brother-in-law is raising his family in America, and I always find it ironic that his children have less freedom than he did as a boy.
Shrinking Oasis
There are probably lots of other examples I could share with you of what life is like here in a high-trust society, but my point is two-fold:
Places like this are becoming increasingly rare; and
You have idea how much stress you suffer from when you live in a low-trust society
Even as something as simple as going to the corner store elevates your anxiety levels in America when you see security cameras watching your every move, and the cashier is esconced behind bulletproof glass.
Meanwhile, I leave my house without bothering to lock it, pass by folks on the street without worrying they’re going to rob me or kill me, and give a friendly wave to a child without it becoming a red-alert situation for everyone.
What’s the point of living if you’re scared your own govenrment’s officers might hurt you, your neighbors might attack you, and you can’t enjoy the sound of kids laughing without worrying you’re going to be accused of being a pervert?
It sucks to live that way, and I know because I’ve been through it, in America. My childhood was great, but life there as an adult has gone downhill every single year until I finally got out.
And while other parts of Europe used to be like where I live now, they’re rapidly turning into low-trust hellholes as well.
Just two miles to my east is Ukraine, where there’s a war going on, not just between soldiers on the front line but between people who speak different languages. And five miles to my west is Moldova, a deeply corrupt country where heavily armed cops patrol peaceful cultural festivals, and there are also huge tensions between speakers of different languages.
I feel like I’m on an island surrounded by water that’s constantly rising, and it breaks my heart that more and more people are living in fear every year.
But before we’re all washed away, I thought I’d share with you all the message that yes, a few places still do exist where old ladies sit on benches and feed cats and children play in the streets as a smiling Yuri Gagarin looks down.