Saying goodbye
Whenever I am at the airport shortly after the holidays, there’s always a recurring scene that moves me. It is parents saying goodbye to their children as they leave again for a country abroad, after a few days with the family.
Having lived abroad for 20 years, I am very familiar with the feeling of every Greek who loves his country, as he sees the sea out of the corner of his eye from the window of the plane, just before landing. A more intense sadness is felt as he says goodbye to friends, relatives, beloved habits and the all-forgiving sun. And, of course, we are used to managing the same difficult farewell from our children, who are going abroad for another semester of study.
But beyond what everyone – parent or child – feels, there is something that is troubling and worth paying attention to. Many of the farewell scenes do not involve parents and children studying, but young people, usually in their 30s, who left Greece due to the economic crisis and looked for opportunities elsewhere. They are people who have jobs and are now permanently settled in different countries.
They come to Greece as much as their work leave allows them and they love it in the special way that every migrant loves his or her country. The distance and the fact that their parents and the rest of their family are far away make it very difficult for them. On the other hand, as soon as you start a conversation with them, when you run into them in some European or other city, they will tell you how happy they are where they are and how angry Greece makes them.
We are at a very critical crossroads regarding the fate of this brain drain generation or whatever one wants to call it. These Greeks have now reached the phase in their lives where they are putting down roots in their new destinations. They are at an age when they will start a family or find permanent jobs. They are entering the phase where returning to Greece will become more and more difficult. That is why it is crucial to convince them, as a country, to return.
But it is not just a matter of wages or incentives. There is a need for a culture change, for meritocracy everywhere, for universities that don’t function like hubs of corruption and clientelism. There is also a need for a quality of life that requires good public hospitals and proper education for their children. This generation knows that the country it left behind is not the one of the 1920s, but it wants certain things – and rightly so.
We are going through a phase of economic boom. There are sectors, such as tourism, where one can find work easily, with a good salary and professional conditions. But these are not enough to convince these people to return. And if they don’t return soon, they will be lost to us forever.
