In a village near Nafpaktos I have been spending my vacations for years, living in the wonderful nature the tranquility offered by the small friendly society. The sea and the mountain, harmoniously linked, rest the soul from the turmoil of the capital, and provoke the mind to think how happy the Greek should feel amidst so much beauty around him, but also how responsible he should be for guarding and the preservation of this divine gift.
This year, everything has changed. I was impressed, when in the morning I first saw a flock of birds flying like crazy, perhaps seeking shelter. 2023 is, it seems, the year of man's "punishment" for his imprudence and his criminal actions, ignoring the destruction of nature and the disastrous consequences. A pandemic called "coronavirus", whose crown fell very heavily on our heads, heatwaves and devastating fires, which literally devastated areas of our country, combined with prolonged austerity, impoverished the Greek. Those who own a house in a village limited their holidays there, but at the same time they also reduced their outings to centers and taverns. The inseparableness of other times in the taverns of locals is now a thing of the past. Citizens are having fun at home and the owners of the centers are content with tourists. Let us be grateful to them, and let us consider what accounts for their preference for our country, and how easily it is converted, if the beauties of this place are destroyed!
Our economy is steadily marching along at a rate where the rich get richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class sinks into despair. Let's finally look at the reality... there is no money, unfortunately we have become rich, and the patience of the citizens easily turns into an explosion and, perhaps, the choices of the existing fascist formations for the governance of the country.
It is a fact that we are experiencing a transitional period of dramatic changes worldwide, which we do not know where they will lead us. Let us, however, at least have the foresight to correct what depends on our hand.
The Roman philosopher Seneca in his work De brevitate vitae (On the brevity of life) characteristically points out, trying to teach humanity the following: "People complain because the life given to them is short. But life is not at all short but sufficient. They themselves do not manage it properly and consume it wastefully and recklessly." Let's learn!
