It is a stubborness.
There are some stubborn children with a soul of steel and silk, with a lion's heart and a fearless look who with a waterhose on their shoulders set up a block against the fiery flames in the villages of Kamatriades, Jerakiou, Avgaria and Galatsona (on Evia) All night long.
To save what can be saved from their "sacred land", from their home. They are stubborn children who made a human chain every night in the north of Evia and their own height exceeds the flames of 30 and 40 meters.
They are some seasonal firefighters, some 18-year-old kids, some 25-year-old lads and some 50-something and 60-something-men who proved, once again, that apart from "Mitsotakis did what was humanly possible". There is also
"We did what seemed impossible and we accomplished it"
These stubborn, disobedient, children who did not listen to the instructions of sms message 112 (evacuate the village/city) They took the case into their own hands, gave and are still giving.
They fought their own battles and "held back" for another night the fiery flames in the ravine. It did no matter how hard it was, they did not allow it to enter their villages.
They are some stubborn children that have the answers because Greece "endures and perseveres" and for centuries, stands upright.
Copyright photos Matina Katsiveli, Areti Athanasiou (also the text)
(this text is translated by me and slightly altered to make it more understandable)
seems strange that in everyone of the hundreds of photographs published these days there in not one depicting a professional firemen, a military or someone from the navy. makes you wonder
When I was that age it would have been considered normal behaviour (except by our mothers!) for all hands to fight the fire and do whatever it took to resolve, or at least try our utmost to resolve, the situation. Indeed, I remember fighting several local brush fires well before I was eighteen. It is only the advent of the “Nanny State”, and the overbearing influence of “Health and Safety”, that now seems to make such reaction out of the ordinary. Having said that, I still say a big “thank you” to all who have done their very best to quell the fires.
I am still praying Skopelos escapes.
I think elephant1579 makes a relevant point about the zeitgeist and how in earlier times these kinds of events would have been encountered and fought with the kind of courage we associate with the Greek people away from attention from the outside world. And this poem shows something else i find endearing about Greek people which is their fierce national pride and patriotism. The distinctive thing I feel is that Greek nationalism doesn’t have the element if hostility towards others that has coloured UK nationalism for instance. Greeks just simply celebrate their country and their fellow countrymen and are proud of who they are without any trace of boorishness – which I guess is one of the reasons people love to visit and spend time with them. I too am praying that Skopelos will be spared from the fires.
Dear Carolyn, you are exactly right. I love that the Greeks love their country with such fierceness but without excluding others to love it too. They want everybody to celebrate it as they do!
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seems strange that in everyone of the hundreds of photographs published these days there in not one depicting a professional firemen, a military or someone from the navy. makes you wonder
When I was that age it would have been considered normal behaviour (except by our mothers!) for all hands to fight the fire and do whatever it took to resolve, or at least try our utmost to resolve, the situation. Indeed, I remember fighting several local brush fires well before I was eighteen. It is only the advent of the “Nanny State”, and the overbearing influence of “Health and Safety”, that now seems to make such reaction out of the ordinary. Having said that, I still say a big “thank you” to all who have done their very best to quell the fires.
I am still praying Skopelos escapes.
From here, we can see what’s happening to your menfolk in Greece and on Evia.
You’re in our prayers and I truly hope the fires don’t spread any further; or wider.
Do keep safe all….
Kevin. x
Well said.
Sent from my iPhone
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I think elephant1579 makes a relevant point about the zeitgeist and how in earlier times these kinds of events would have been encountered and fought with the kind of courage we associate with the Greek people away from attention from the outside world. And this poem shows something else i find endearing about Greek people which is their fierce national pride and patriotism. The distinctive thing I feel is that Greek nationalism doesn’t have the element if hostility towards others that has coloured UK nationalism for instance. Greeks just simply celebrate their country and their fellow countrymen and are proud of who they are without any trace of boorishness – which I guess is one of the reasons people love to visit and spend time with them. I too am praying that Skopelos will be spared from the fires.
Dear Carolyn, you are exactly right. I love that the Greeks love their country with such fierceness but without excluding others to love it too. They want everybody to celebrate it as they do!