The Acropolis in Athens is crowded and sunny, filled by tourists from different corners of the world enthusiastic to explore thousands and thousands years of history. You don’t hear much beneath the great walls of Parthenon as everyone is amazed by the greatness of this history rich monument. Yet and only in a mere stone’s throw in downtown Athens, history is in the making once again.

I’m in Greece on vacation desirous for history and beauty. Yet the vibe in the streets of Athens steals my attention. I am a guest warmly welcomed by the family of one of my closest college friends who is a Greek Canadian. I ask Alexander about the situation in his motherland and I hear a quick and hopeless “not good”. Willing to figure out how bad it may be, I spend the whole night browsing the web:

Greece is in an economic crisis caused mainly by years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement a robust financial system. The crisis grew into a political one when the truth about government statistics was unveiled exposing the real country’s debt and deficits exceeding limits set by the eurozone. Greece’s gigantic debt of 300 billion euro, a lot bigger than the country’s economy, has made its credit rating- the assessment of its ability to repay its debts- the lowest in the eurozone. Hence, foreign investors are pulling out causing a huge interest jump on the country’s debt. Greece’s burden is harsh enough to bother the rest of the eurozone and its currency, the Euro. To protect it, debt should be paid back to investors so that trust and stability could come back to European financial market. On another perspective, if Greece defaults on its debt -- not paying it back -- it will automatically fall out of the eurozone, which experts believe could be the end of eurozone as other countries like Spain, Republic of Ireland and Portugal with similar situations to Greece may also default. Thus, hoping to rescue Greece and consequently its currency, led by Germany, all eurozone countries have agreed to a rescue plan to save Greece’s ailing economy. Nevertheless, such kindness is not free for the Greek population as their government is obligated to implement harder austerity measures to be eligible for the rescue package. This means selling public assets, higher taxes, lower public spending and much more for the Greeks. Predictably, people resist to such measures making the problem much more difficult specially when violence breaks out and people are injured and killed.             

I join the breakfast table and concerned with the dilemma Greece is in, I ask my friend’s cousin Anastasios , a university student in Athens, about how he feels about the situation and what he thinks the best solution might be. By saying “committing to the EU’s bailout package only postpones the problem as we will never have enough money to pay back the debt and even if we could, with the level of corruption in the Greek government we cannot trust them and committee to the harsh austerity measures”. He rules out that solution and says “I am not even sure what will happen to Greece with the sharp rise in inflation if we default on the debt”. He elaborates further: “In either option this corrupt government cannot be trusted to lead Greece in this dilemma”. When I asked him about his personal plans for the future, he replied “given this situation, I’m not sure if I want to stay in Greece. It is very hard for me to leave where I grew up and all the people I grew up with but with the situation worsening I’m considering my other options more seriously”. His sense of despair about the situation makes me concerned about another potential challenge: brain drain. In any society, change usually flourishes by its intellectual members and if their number decreases so will the chances of a successful implementation of change in that system. Being lost in this sociopolitical dilemma in Greece I continue my journey to Crofu (kerkyra in Greek), a beautiful island in the Ionian Sea -- based on Greek mythology Poseidon-god of sea falls in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopus and river nymph Metope, and abducting and bringing her to the island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place: Korkyra. Mesmerized by the beauty of this island surrounded with still water and green mountains I cannot stop thinking about a bigger threat facing the country. I start a conversation with our taxi driver that instantly gets political. In broken English he tells us about a taxi strike on the next day. “We shouldn’t be quite and do whatever this government wishes for us, we should stand up and raise our voices” he says. When I ask him how hopeful he is about the effectiveness of such strikes, he tells me: “It at least makes them(the government) think twice”.         

Later that day, walking in the narrow streets of the city with its beautiful Venetian architecture I end up in a nice jewelry store. When I ask Jacqueline Brulin-Rois, a German woman, who has found the love of her life and got married in this beautiful island, works in the jewelry store, about the crisis in Greece, she tells me: “I think people should put their differences aside and start working together and stop fighting all the time”. She continues, “I believe the church can and should help unite the people in these harsh times”. Thanks to Jacqueline, a new angle comes into my attention, religion. Instantly I guide myself to Saint Spyridon church, built in 1596 this church features the tallest tower of Corfu and is the resting place of the body of St. Spyridon, which has astonishingly remained immune to decomposition. After paying my respect to the saint I go to meet with the priests. With Alex helping with translation, I tell them I’m form Iran interested in writing an article about the crisis in Greece. They greet me and acknowledge Iran by “Ayatollah Khomeini”. I begin by sharing with him what I learned from Jacqueline and the potential role the church could play in uniting people. One priest tells me, “The respect we have for our religion is far greater than involving it with politics. Religion is above all political parties and all we do here is pray for the soul which we believe is the most important thing in life”. Unfortunately time is short for the priest as he excuses himself to continue his duty in the church. I decide to move on and later in the day I joined Anastasios Venetsanopoulos, a distinguished Greek professor of electrical and computer engineering in Canada and the former dean of engineering at university of Toronto, for a cup of coffee. Being in Corfu to attend a conference, he patiently began by giving me a glance of history from the birth of democracy in Greece to its “highjack” by Prime Minister Georgios A. Papandreou’s government. He specifically focuses on the current situation by saying “Papandreou promised support for the middle and lower classes of the society, and is doing the exact opposite now”. He believes that the problem deepens when there are no strong political alternative to the current corrupt government. Yet he remains hopeful about the protests saying “These movements spur a behavior modification in the government to say the least”. Professor Venersanopoulos has a broader vantage point of the problem from the bailout/default options: “Given a decent and honest government any of those options could potentially work, but the main problem lies in the current corruption”. When I shared with him my fear of a brain drain in Greece he said: “It’s a very hard personal choice especially when you feel that the system is far stronger than the individual”. But is it far stronger than many individuals together, I ponder.

Returning from Corfu and in Athens, I go to the parliament in front of which tents are set up, signs are hung and people are well awake. I manage to find someone who speaks English, Cristos, an ex restaurant worker, who has lost his job a few months ago. When I ask him if he sees a point in staying here, he grabs my hand trailing me to show me something. I follow him through the crowd and towards some other tents on which a big map with red crosses all over is hung. He shows the middle cross and tells me “This is us, the first baby. Do you see the other babies?” I nod and he continues “they may be aggressive now but don’t worry they are babies, they’ll grow up!”. When I try provoking him by telling him that this government is the result of an election in which people voted, he patiently tells me: “We were deceived by lies and fancy words, but not anymore, these babies are learning to listen carefully, they won’t fall for the same lies again, I assure you”. I ask about how long he is willing to stay here, “Until the babies grow up and are ready to replace the people in that building” he tells me pointing to the parliament building.    

I spend my last night in Athens with a friendly group of young individuals at Nick’s apartment. Nick, an electrical engineering student, and the rest of his friends are avoiding political discussions at first saying it always makes them fight. After I tell them about my intention of writing an article they become interested and discussions got hot. We talked politics to religion, reviewed economy to culture, discussed socialists to democrats and much more. Some believed Greece should default and some believed in staying in the eurozone. Some had plans on leaving for a better life, some joking about Corfu becoming a German colony within next year and some so pessimistic about change ever happening. Yet everyone’s point of intersection was: being concerned and surprisingly, however, was that despite the disagreements and fights, they were all eager for a solution. When we walked out at 4 a.m., in spite of all evident hopelessness surrounding Greece, all I felt was hope. Hope in the awakening of its people and in their love for the country. Greece’s brains may drain, but its hearts are not drainable. What I saw in Greece was far from the stereotypes of laziness and carelessness. Its young is vigilant so as its old. Not only people read the lines these days but they are acculturizing to read between them as well. They have realized that governments are to be afraid of their people not people of their governments.

“Greeks are Greeks” I heard a lot, meaning they fight and argue then make up. Greeks are Greeks and will be Greeks, yet Greece is not Achilles’ Greece anymore, but I see a far greater Achilles forming from the babies on the map, from Nicks, Anastasioses, Carolinas, Cristoses, Bills, Penelopes, Anna-Marias, Jaqulines and many others who may be far less powerful from the system individually but together they are invincible, undefeatable and unbreakable. This spark is to be a flame if they continue to fuel it with vigilance and if they continue to believe that the linchpin of Greece’s solution lies not behind the closed doors of IMF and EU nor on Papandreou’s resignation but in unity of its people in a fight for their future.