By George Kallinikos
She was walking with difficulty. The weight of age too heavy for her body. The weight of survival even greater. The weight of her experiences in her ever-suffering country unbearable. Nothing, however, could stop her. The call for her country’s wellbeing gave her wings to overcome the weight. To do what she had been called for several times in the past. For the honor of her country.
Grandma Evanthia shocked Greece. Her photo made the round of the world. With origins from the town of Serres, Macedonia the region of northern Greece, her image was transformed into a symbol of the rally to condemn the “Prespes Agreement”. She was in her eighth or ninth decade of her life. With a crooked body, but a raised head. One hand pulled the little stroller with which she went to the grocery store of her neighborhood. This time, however, she was carrying something sacred that she loved all her life: the Greek flag. She was not a politician. She was carrying it just as an ordinary person would who knows how to carry his flag. She was carrying the flag of her homeland with respect and adoration. In the other hand she held her walking stick which she relies on to walk.
She was not looking back, neither right nor left. She kept her ears blocked not to hear the name-calling. She didn’t want to get confused. She was walking straight. Her steps were slow, but steady. This feature is ignored by politicians. When you know what you are asking for, what you are claiming is veracious, what is right for the interests of your homeland, then you know that it does not allow compromises, then you proceed only with straight, steady steps.
What an irony; They called them fascists. Those who embraced the flag and went to support their homeland. Television stations focused on episodes, in chemicals and in the blood. Yes, those acts are condemnable. They are not, however, the essence. The essence lies in Grandma Evanthia, in the flame of her eyes and in whatever gave her the strength to take the carriage, the cane and her beloved flag and to descend by bus from Serres to Syntagma Square in Athens (a distance of about 580 km).
Leaders of shame, this grandmother has in her bosom the verses of Seferis, Gatsos, Kalvos and Solomos. This grandmother, lillipute leaders has as a lucky charm the sun of Vergina. She keeps in her heart Mount Olympus and Mount Hymettus. This proud grandmother, impotent leaders was born with Greece in her soul. She wakes up with it and she sleeps with it.
Timid politicians, this grandmother, holds all the affection for her homeland that would fit in the Aegean. She loves each corner of her country. I don’t know if you can comprehend… Greece dwells into her soul, her heart and her mind. She does not give away not even a centimeter of her land. She does not give away her Macedonia or the struggles and the blood that has been shed for its liberation. She of course, does not give away the name Macedonia to anyone because she knows the future dangers of such a horrid act that would allow anyone to exploit any future conditions and interests and become threatening.
This grandmother can hardly walk. Her body is crooked because she faced many hardships in her life, but she always lived upright and that’s how she will die. Head up high and proud. This grandmother experienced in her lifetime war, wailing, gunpowder, fear. She felt the awful odor of blood and death in her nostrils. She knows what it means to fight for freedom. She knows what the meaning of the word homeland is and she knows how to defend it.
Midget leaders, did you comprehend what kind of message this proud grandmother has sent you? She did not spit in your face just for the very agreement you signed because, everyone can have his point of view about it. Anyone can judge by his own criteria, in his own way of thinking. It depends on the specific weight that his conscience caries.
This great grandmother, however, spat on you for something else. She spat on you for the sneaky, undemocratic and authoritarian way in which you are trying to pass an agreement that concerns national interests, ignoring the will of the people. Only 151 MPs voted to pass it. This grandmother, impotent leaders, who, in the role of a marionette, you follow the plans of foreign leaders, has thrown you a tremendous truth. That no agreement on national interests can be taken by passerby governments, that the people must have the last word.
Do you Tsipras, Mitsotakis, Karamanlis and other passersby hear? Greece does not belong to you. Greece belongs to its people. Only the Greeks through a referendum are entitled to decide. Let the politicians of Cyprus hear the same resounding message of the grandmother of Greece, the grandmother of our heart also! Whatever you agree amongst you, the people will have the final say! Put it well in your mind!
Source. INTERNATIONAL HELLENIC ASSOCIATION
(Translated by Nina Gatzoulis-Coordinator of the World Pan-Macedonian Associations. In some areas free translation is used to be more comprehensive in English)Source:http://www.philenews.com/f-me-apopsi/arthra-apo-f/article/644324/i-gaga-tis-makedonias-kai-to-ftysimo-ton-igtiskon