When life becomes long enough to care...

Greetings from Vienna, I am here for a conference and I am having a great time. Back in Greece, there is a lot of controversy those days about the ‘I am Hellene’ video and all the repercussions it created (for example this one, among others, since there is a lot of public discussion currently).

Of course in Greece there is a lot of controversy about everything and the good thing is that most of the people are trying to look themselves at the mirror. We are trying to understand what brought us to this point, we are going back to our history (I am referring mostly to the last 100 years and not the ancient one), trying to really find our identity. It is a healthy and constructive, but painful process which covers your life like a dark cloud.

Here in Vienna it’s sunny with 20^oC and the streets are full of people and life. Delicious chocolate cakes, cold beer, white wine, and ice cream. People are relaxed, smiling, making contact, while others are making business, they all seem to be taking their lives forward. A big contrast compared to Greeks, Italians, Spanish and Portuguese. 
Vienna is an beautiful city, full of monuments and history, but also a strong present. It is obvious that there is a lot of money, like there is a lot of money in the States, Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, etc. Part of this money is result of hard work and sharp minds, but there is also a big ‘dirty’ part. Colonies and wars, investments and bank deposits of third world mafia and corrupt dictators, manipulation of politicians, sweatshops in Asia, you name it. Ugly stuff that have become the foundation of our prosperity… Human rights activists and other political organizations try to remind us about the backyard of our capitalist system from time to time, but life goes on 'as usual'.

Let's face it... What we all know well is that we are in this world for only a century or so and this is not enough time to fulfill our own dreams and desires, not even to make ends meet or feel safe. Our life may also not be enough to make our friends and family happy, so why should we bother, especially when we are legitimate and we pay our taxes. Leonardo da Vinci made masterpieces in art and science, being the protégé of Dukes while people were living with the basics. Our politicians who should have the vision and responsibility to make the world better, have the same time available in this planet. So it is not surprising that they end up sweeping the dirt under the carpet, so they can live their unique moments of glory (and profit), instead of making the change which nobody knows if is feasible anyway…

After all people who are willing to die in order to make the world a better place, go against nature, throwing away our unique and  irreplaceable gift, the privilege of life, having friends, family, love... the anyway limited moments of laughter and happiness that are so precious and ingrained in our nature. So how can these heroes serve as an example, especially when there is such a sunny beautiful day? And finally, philosophy and religion, our intellectual effort to extend the scope of our existence beyond the duration of our life, has proven insufficient as a motivation to oppress our dark side and give our best to our society… At least in a big part of the western world…
So it comes out that only crises are moments of reflection, the moments when ‘you cannot sleep, since the beds are burning’. Greeks have no ‘sunny days’ any more, so inevitably they are reflecting… They are putting blame to themselves, to capitalism, to their politicians, to emigrants,  to communists, to multinationals, everybody has his own arguments and is right to some extent. This crisis is expected to be a long one and it will come the moment for the whole Europe to look in the mirror. Let’s just hope that we will all reach to the right conclusions… And most important that we will not end up fighting against each other...