Lest we forget

I had planned to blip this on Sunday but today I bumped into Vangelis in the village. He looked frightened and teary. He is married with a grown up daughter who has three children, and a grown up son who has cerebral palsy. Vangelis himself prunes trees for people, as and when they think their trees need pruning and feel they can afford to pay somebody to come and do it. His son-in-law was a builder but there is no building work these days so he now works nights in the bakery. Vangelis' daughter is curator of a free-entry museum which is not advertised anywhere, she also sells insurance and beauty products, though nobody is buying beauty products any more. When Vangelis' daughter is at work in the museum and his son-in-law is asleep following his night shift his wife is looking after the smallest of the children along with his grown-up but entirely-dependent son. It's tough for him at the moment, as it is for most villagers. His fears are simple;
if the terms of the bailout are approved then it will continue to be this tough for the whole of the rest of his life. If the terms of the bailout are not approved then things will become dramatically more difficult than they are now but there will be a glimmer of life at the end of the tunnel.

Before I met Vangelis it was my belief that on Sunday the people of Greece would vote against the terms of the bailout package and suffer the consequences. Now I am not quite so certain. It won't be the first time in Greece that principles have taken priority over comfort.

In 1940 General Metaxas refused to allow Mussolini 'strategic' sites on Greek soil and within hours Greece was at war with Italy.
http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/oxi-day.html
This single act is commemorated every year on 28th October. It is a piece of defiant Greek history that is taught to pre-school children.

I will not plagiarise this site below by copying her text but I would be very happy if you would click on this link and read with particular attention to the part beginning;
“It is a day to remember Hellenic values . . .
http://livingingreece.gr/2007/10/28/october-28/

Most of us have read somewhere that the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle promotes longevity, so it should come as little surprise that there are plenty of fit, active, healthy octogenarians who remember the occupation, who still tend their vegetable gardens and who are an integral part of extended family life.

I do not believe that Greek voters have the stomach for forgetting the sacrifices made by their grandparents. 300,000 Greeks starved to death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Greece)

There are currently about 11.12 million Greeks living in Greece as against 7.34 in 1940
There are currently about 8.6 million Londoners living in London, 5.3 million Scots in Scotland.

“…until now we would say that the Greeks fight like heroes. From now on we will say that heroes fight like Greeks.” Winston Churchill

Greece is a tiny nation but may well be poised on the brink of proving once again that it can bring down the greatest power in Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33179593

As of 2011, the idea that a German chancellor will impose strict austerity measures on Greece as part of the financial debt crisis that the country faces, cannot be tolerated by a large number of Greeks. In fact, many Greek citizens still believe that Germany owes Greece reparations for acts committed during World War II, including those that led to the Great Famine and the massacres committed by German troops, activities that caused hundreds of thousands of Greek citizens to lose their lives. Nazi Germany forced Greece to provide loans to the Reich, which were never repaid. The value of these loans is 11b Euros in 2014. Germany's World War II debts were cut in half by the London Conference in the 1950s. Germany's position is that they surrendered to the Allies and not to the Greeks, so they owe them nothing.