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2023

Some words about Friendship

23/7/2019

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I cannot help but wonder sometimes, what Friendship is essentially made of. What makes a good or a bad Friend. How important can someone be, a person who does not belong in our biological family. “Friends constitute our second family”, “Friends are the family we choose to belong to”, these phrases consist the most “commercial” expressions in Greece. Let  us reflect on both, a global literature masterpiece, which is regarded as a hymn to pure friendship and a noteworthy philosophical approach.


Excerpt from the book “The little Prince”, Chapter 21

And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have spent for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have spent for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"People have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . ."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Saint-Exupéry, A. ., Woods, K., & Harcourt, Brace & World,. (1943). The little prince.


Excerpt from the book “The Nicomachean ethics”, Books I-II

The term “friend”, in the all-embracing context of true friendship, presupposes the fact that a person cannot be a friend with many people, the same way he cannot be in love with many individuals at the exact same time. The aforementioned facts are founded on the perception that true friendship bears a resemblance to hyperbole which, when it regards love, is oriented towards a specific individual. Certainly, it is not possible for a person to like many other people to the highest extent. Except the before-mentioned details, one has to acquire a fundamental experience (concerning their character), via a long term communication, a fact that encloses a certain level of difficulty. It is also possible that many people might like a specific person, when it is about interest and pleasure, due to the fact that there are quite many people with these attributes and also because the (mutual) provision of services usually takes quite some time.

Aristotle, ., Ross, W. D., & Brown, L. (2009). The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

All in all,  I fervently agree with the words of Lucius Annaeus Seneca:
“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood”. I shall add here, at what extent are we eager to understand the others?    

*United Nations have declared the International Day of Friendship on July 30th.

Paschalina Garidou
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nelson mandela's day

22/7/2019

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Nelson Mandela was born into a family of the kingship of South Africa. His great- grandfather was king of the Tembu, a royal house of strong influence of African descent. His father was baptized as 'Rolihlahla' that in Xhosa language means 'weapon' problems.

After a happy childhood, filled with excellent education, Mandela became young and escaped from his tribe once he knew it had arranged a marriage for him.

He arrived in Johannesburg to study law, where he was confronted with the reality that his country lived: apartheid. It was a system of racial segregation imposed by the Afrikaners, the white minority of Dutch origin.
After graduating as a lawyer, Mandela began a path of social activism with youth groups attached to the political party of the African National Congress.

Their manifestations in public, with calls for civil disobedience to demand equal civil rights in favor of the afro civilization, made him gain prominence in South Africa.
In 1956 Mandela was first arrested and tried for treason. But only until 1962 he would be deprived of their freedom and imprisoned for a period of 27 years.

International pressure on the Government of South Africa was able to release Mandela in 1990. From there, his party, the African National Congress won the elections and he became as South Africa's first black president by universal suffrage. Their struggle to abolish the law of apartheid, and an end to racial discrimination in his country earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

He died at his 95 years, the 5th of December, 2013, becoming a figure so beloved and controversial, for his evolution as revolutionary/"terrorist" until democratic president. Their cause was recognized with more than 250 honorific mentions and a big amount of awards.

Ananda Antón Linares
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A "Paki" not - A story written right after

4/7/2019

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It was around 21:00, almost all the central markets had been closed. I was in an urgent need of a battery charger for my mobile phone. While I was crossing the central square, desperate and irritated, a row of  hand-crafted tables on my right side caught my attention. The illegal “facilities” of the Pakistani were “specializing” in all kinds of gadgets.That might was the place to be. So, I headed straight for the charger.

In general, the perception over this kind of outdoor shops could not have been less positive. Nationals’ mentality regarding Pakistani people who sell illegal products has not strengthen the attitude of the local societies towards the migrant population. Conversely, Pakistani experience a generalized racist perception of inferiority and ethnic depreciation.

I approached one of the shop owners, looked him in the eyes and asked him in my mother language, if he could provide me with a mobile charger, in a generalized atmosphere of suspicion and incredulity. He took me by surprise, when he asked me to indicate the specific model. He would search for it, for that he kindly requested that I wait a minute. “Does it really work?”, I added with an apparent irony. “If it does not work, please come back tomorrow and I will give you a new one, a better one. I will remember you”. He  made a demonstration of the new charger and surprisingly enough, it worked.

That man, a foreigner with absolutely no qualifications for the national bureaucratic system, made me feel embarrassed. I left him with a smile and I thanked him twice. He smiled back, as if he had forgiven my racist attitude. In a duration of five minutes, I bought two things: A charger and dignity. Or maybe not. Dignity has no price.

Paschalina Garidou
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