It would be commonplace to lament the events of the invasion of Cyprus that fateful summer.
For a few days I didn't know if I was going ot war or to the church to get married.
Yet, I believe there is no Hellene worth the name, and believe you me there are not that many left, who does not feel a little more depressed than usual today.
What seems inevitable on this catastrophic anniversary is a summing up, an attempt to see what's wrong with this nation, with my neighbors with my family, with me. Why is it that for the last ninety years or so, we go from bad to worse, suffering one defeat after another, going through civil unrest and fratricide, going bankrupt, losing our self-respect and becoming the laughing stock of the world.
I am not the first and I will not be the last to attempt it. All Hellenes go through the same routine on a daily basis for the past four years. In different forms and shapes they ask the same question: "What's wrong with us?".Usually the answers take the form of criticism of the "other guy", the political opponents, Europe, the US, whoever. I rarely hear self-criticism."This is what I did wrong people. I am sorry."
The writing is on the wall. We either shape up or we will diasppear from the face of the earth.
What will remain will be a Diaspora that time and the forces of history will eventually absorb in the cauldron of foreign lands and foreign cultures.
For a few days I didn't know if I was going ot war or to the church to get married.
Yet, I believe there is no Hellene worth the name, and believe you me there are not that many left, who does not feel a little more depressed than usual today.
During the economic crisis, depression has become the psychological norm for a nation with a sunny disposition and the lowest suicide rate in Europe; not so anymore.
Some of us will go to church and light a candle in the memory of the fallen soldiers, the unknown heroes that the politicians and the international community refuse to aknowledge they exist to this day, the uprooted refugees, the prisoners who died in Turkish prisons and then Isaac Isaac and Solomos Solomou and then.... Well, the trail of blood and tears is endless when it comes to Cyprus.
The defenders of Cyprus never got what they deserved; something like the Wall, the Vietnam veterans got in the US. Just like them, they didn't lose the war of Cyprus; the leadership of the nation did, well before the events of July 20th, 1974. The so called "Cyprus File" containing all political, strategic, economic facts about this vital national issue in Greece and Cyprus never opened.
It is still an open wound on the body of the nation, needing cleansing and surgical care in order to heal.
What seems inevitable on this catastrophic anniversary is a summing up, an attempt to see what's wrong with this nation, with my neighbors with my family, with me. Why is it that for the last ninety years or so, we go from bad to worse, suffering one defeat after another, going through civil unrest and fratricide, going bankrupt, losing our self-respect and becoming the laughing stock of the world.
I am not the first and I will not be the last to attempt it. All Hellenes go through the same routine on a daily basis for the past four years. In different forms and shapes they ask the same question: "What's wrong with us?".Usually the answers take the form of criticism of the "other guy", the political opponents, Europe, the US, whoever. I rarely hear self-criticism."This is what I did wrong people. I am sorry."
The writing is on the wall. We either shape up or we will diasppear from the face of the earth.
What will remain will be a Diaspora that time and the forces of history will eventually absorb in the cauldron of foreign lands and foreign cultures.
Two centuries ago there was no place in the Eastern Mediterranean that did not possess a sizeable community of Hellenes. The bulk of Hellenes living outside Greece were in Asia Minor, along the coastline of the Black Sea and of course Cyprus. Today, after being ethnically cleansed from Asia Minor by the Turks a fact denied by some so called historians in Greek Universities mind you, expelled by the the Egyptians and the Sudanese, forcibly marched by the Soviets from the lands around the Black Sea to the center of Asia and losing 40% of Cyprus, we are squeezed at the bottom of the Balkan Penninsula, hanging by the skin of our teeth to this most precious land that our forefathers recent and distant, died for us to have. Turkish expansionism casts its threatening shadow over the Aegean and Thrace and Slavic opportunism aspires to falsely expropriate the name Macedonia with the distant goal of capturing Tessaloniki. The Albanians are slowly and methodically increasing the pressure of their claim on Thesprotia.
So, what's wrong with us?
Many things, in many areas but lying at the base of this huge mountain of national manure that contains our own personal contributions is, I believe ethics; a moral code. Not economics.Not politics. The evils in these areas are the consequences of a defective code of conduct.
Unlike other nations that amalgamated national unity in a brief series of conflicts, such as for example the American Civil War, we never resolved this issue permanently.
Ever since the times of the Peloponnesian Civil War in the 5th century BC we followed a twisted path in two opposite directions: In the civil and political field, we annihilated the best of us generation after generation in an endless string of fratricidal conflicts. Foreign invasions and wars, against a list of enemies that is too long to remember, where treason walked alongside heroism and self-sacrifice second to none in world history, completed the task of depleting our numbers and reducing us to a minor Balkan nation. At every turn of history one Hellenic faction aspired not to integrate the other in a single nation but to either subjugate or annihilate it. Throw into the mix corruption, nepotism, vain and empty pride and the political witch's brew, becomes a powerful poison that threatens us with extinction.
In contrast, in the field of civilization, the arts and sciences our star never stopped shining in the path of mankind and became the cement that held us together.
The end result is that we have strong, prospering and powerful Hellenes outside Greece, such as Australia, the Americas, Western Europe and a weak and degenerate main national body in Greece.
The nation is without leaders, without personalities that will inspire with words, ideas, deeds and personal example, without institutions and a diminishing will to survive.
The same corrupt and defunct political personnel is recycled.
The same crony capitalism and trade unionists of the public sector are eating up what is left of the diminished resources of private citizens. This is our darkest hour.
Yet, the young generation shows signs of life and rejuvenation.
I teach Endocrinology at the University of Crete and I literally live with my students.
They have a far superior moral code in their daily interactions, they are smart, strong and need gentle discreet guidance and above all, living, flesh and blood examples. It is my task to get them to know their heritage and do this informally, without a trace of self-interest or chauvinism; give them the practical aspects of the accumulated Hellenic wisdom and its connections with Eastern and Western thought and practices; to show them how other nations transformed the Hellenic civilization into the bedrock of their way of life.
I am confident that they will make it. When the right time comes, they will sweep aside the sterile party lines and build a new moral code that will form the basis of rejuvenation of the nation.
I am confident that out of their ranks will spring the new leaders and I hope that this time it will really be different; I hope that this time they will manage to form a true nation.
PS: I wish you all the vey best. It would be an honor and a priviledge if you visited my humble blog at http://rosicrux.blogspot.gr/
So, what's wrong with us?
Many things, in many areas but lying at the base of this huge mountain of national manure that contains our own personal contributions is, I believe ethics; a moral code. Not economics.Not politics. The evils in these areas are the consequences of a defective code of conduct.
Unlike other nations that amalgamated national unity in a brief series of conflicts, such as for example the American Civil War, we never resolved this issue permanently.
Ever since the times of the Peloponnesian Civil War in the 5th century BC we followed a twisted path in two opposite directions: In the civil and political field, we annihilated the best of us generation after generation in an endless string of fratricidal conflicts. Foreign invasions and wars, against a list of enemies that is too long to remember, where treason walked alongside heroism and self-sacrifice second to none in world history, completed the task of depleting our numbers and reducing us to a minor Balkan nation. At every turn of history one Hellenic faction aspired not to integrate the other in a single nation but to either subjugate or annihilate it. Throw into the mix corruption, nepotism, vain and empty pride and the political witch's brew, becomes a powerful poison that threatens us with extinction.
In contrast, in the field of civilization, the arts and sciences our star never stopped shining in the path of mankind and became the cement that held us together.
The end result is that we have strong, prospering and powerful Hellenes outside Greece, such as Australia, the Americas, Western Europe and a weak and degenerate main national body in Greece.
The nation is without leaders, without personalities that will inspire with words, ideas, deeds and personal example, without institutions and a diminishing will to survive.
The same corrupt and defunct political personnel is recycled.
The same crony capitalism and trade unionists of the public sector are eating up what is left of the diminished resources of private citizens. This is our darkest hour.
Yet, the young generation shows signs of life and rejuvenation.
I teach Endocrinology at the University of Crete and I literally live with my students.
They have a far superior moral code in their daily interactions, they are smart, strong and need gentle discreet guidance and above all, living, flesh and blood examples. It is my task to get them to know their heritage and do this informally, without a trace of self-interest or chauvinism; give them the practical aspects of the accumulated Hellenic wisdom and its connections with Eastern and Western thought and practices; to show them how other nations transformed the Hellenic civilization into the bedrock of their way of life.
I am confident that they will make it. When the right time comes, they will sweep aside the sterile party lines and build a new moral code that will form the basis of rejuvenation of the nation.
I am confident that out of their ranks will spring the new leaders and I hope that this time it will really be different; I hope that this time they will manage to form a true nation.
PS: I wish you all the vey best. It would be an honor and a priviledge if you visited my humble blog at http://rosicrux.blogspot.gr/
