BIRTHPLACE OF DEMOCRACY

ATHENS TOUR CLICK HERE

I don't know about you, but for me it is sad to hear the news from Greece lately.  It is bad enough to get it through the usual sources to which we have become accustomed.  I'm talking about ABC, CBS, NBC, AP, CNN and a few more.  The experience I had the other day really got me to thinking about Greece and about a couple other things that we take for granted here in the good ol' USA.  
We [Belle and I] were on the road from San Diego to Moreno Valley and we were listening to the two hour segment that the BBC has on NPR radio. There were two Grecian people on the line and they were discussing the economic and political situation in their home country.  One is an Athenian business man in his upper 40's and the other is a 21 year old university student currently situated in London.  The conversation was interesting in the sense that the four people on the radio did not know one another personally.  Not even the BBC colleagues.  One sitting in London and the other in Washington, D.C.  The conversation was rather frank and open, with some agreement and some disagreement.  All of this was being articulated politely, respectfully and, I might add, intelligently objective, as far as it went.  As the conversation progressed one idea was repeated twice, without rancor but not exactly objectively.  It is the one idea that has captured my spirit and won't let go.  It is this.  We know that the country is in a bad way and that much of that is caused by bad behavior on the part of the Greeks.  Much of it has also been caused by outside interests and governments.  What is the most painful now is that we [Greeks] are not able to determine our own fate.  We feel that it is, after all, our country.  We are in a situation where others in the Euro Zone are dictating to us what to do.  It is very disheartening.
You know what?  I think I know where they are coming from.  They are coming from the same place that I have steadfastly and even vociferously, refused to let myself get into all my life.  I have made mistakes.  Oh, yeah.  More than a few.  Some Lalapaloozahs too.  I've had to ask for help to correct some of them.  Most of the time however, I girded my loins and worked my way back into normalcy.  I can't help but think of the Greeks.  They thought that it was sooo sweet to be admitted to the Euro Zone.  Now it is sooo bitter.  They have lost their ability to determine their own fate.  They want it back and they are not too sure if they ever will be able to take it back.  As we were coming up the road I couldn't help but think of the Union janitor who makes $12.00 per hour and then has to endure a 16 week work stoppage and suffer through the uncertainty of whether or not the job will still be there when the dispute is settled.   I was thinking of the school teacher who, at first, was thinking that the Union was the answer to her misery only to find out that she had lost her personal freedom in the name of the brotherhood.  I never allowed that to happen to me.  My self determination is too precious to me.  From what I heard on the radio the other day, I think that there are many thinking Greek people who are walking through life these days shaking their heads and wondering where it all went and wondering if they will ever get it back.
Many of them are asking, per the remarks I heard, "If this is democracy, stop the world, I want to get off."  
So, here I am sitting around pondering many things and not solving any. I wonder if that is a sin.  I guess I'll just go Google it.  If  I don't like the answer, I'll move over to Bing.  There are nicer pictures there.
Oh, this is Sadie Hawkins's year.  Leap year is a special year.  Sooner or later I'll tell you why.  
Let's go visit Greece.  They need some tourists who are willing to drop a buck or two into their economy.