Some Letters From Greece

"Aren't you thinking about leaving Greece?" the Greek-American university lecturer asked me over dinner, corroborating his suggestion with tales of young Greeks who excel abroad, having managed to build a "real" future, at a moment when, back in Greece, most of their peers see none for themselves.

   A few years ago, I would have winced at the question, desperately trying to justify my choice of staying here and struggle to make at least some of my 2009 dreams come true. I don't wince anymore.

   I have come to appreciate the chance that the Greek crisis presents to me as a citizen and as a human being, to rise above circumstances, to get to know things I would have never known otherwise: about human nature, about personal strength, about communities, about the darkness and the light in our individual and collective choices in times of hardship, about finding beauty where fear and gloom threaten to destroy all of it, about navigating long-held beliefs, family relationships and questions of disillusionment and meaning, about what a "real" future looks like for each one of us. And it is not just me.

   In all of my fellow Letters from Greece writers' and photographers' work, there's common thread running through our experiences of current reality. Reading mine and others' accounts of how it is to be living here (from falling in love to politics to the secrets of Greek apartments to being a mother to making it as a writer in a flailing country) you cannot help but considering that living in 2015 Greece is interesting. Living in 2015 Greece is conducive to growth -maybe not of the external, obvious, career variety, but definitely of the internal, totally subjective one. It's like running a marathon full of hurdles -you get to know your limits.

Πηγή: huffingtonpost.com