Acts of cheap resistance
National holidays are meant to commemorate the heroic struggles and accomplishments of past generations; they are also an opportunity to study the nation?s history.
It is extremely improper to turn such commemorations into loud manifestations of populism.
The Greeks are a proud nation who have to fight hard to regain their economic sovereignty. We have to work hard so that we shall not have to depend on foreign money to pay our bills at the end of the month.
Some schools and parents have said they want Greece?s schoolchildren to wear black armbands during the national parade. But by doing so we stand to gain nothing as a nation. Quite the opposite in fact; we will reinforce an unfair stereotype that some people are trying to project on the Greeks.
National pride and hard work toward safeguard the country?s independence is one thing. Pompous gestures, which mistake cheap resistance with the struggles of past heroes we are supposedly aiming to commemorate, are quite another.
