Click here for podcast “A Way Home for “The Lost Children of Greece” “
Posting the recent interview by Thanos Davelis (The Greek Current) with Mary Cardaras, a Greek-born adoptee, author of “Ripped at the Root” and editor of “Voices of the Lost Children of Greece”, journalist, and founder and director of The Demos Center at The American College of Greece.
The touching history Dr Cardaras narrates is that of children who were taken away from their birth parents in Greece, and given up for adoption to families abroad.. a story of collusion between the Greek state, church, and other corrupt organizations and participants, and the kafkaesque response of the Greek government dealing with unsealing of adoptees’ birth records and (non)granting of citizenship.
The petition “Nostos for Greek Adoptees” asks the Greek state to recognize 4,000 of Greek-born adoptees, and to accept that the post-war Greek state was a party to the uprooted adoptees’ systematic export from Greece, as the children were offered for adoption to new parents and in places unknown.
VOID…We missed you, we are missing you, on one shore and the other.. the true meaning of friendship…Click to listen. “Αποχαιρετισμός, Περαστικά, Καλή Αντάμωση …Farewell, Be Well, Until we meet again…»
This journey has taken us through many stations; experiences, people got on for the ride. Some stayed on longer than others; others transferred to other trains, as paths diverged or stopped.
The train we are on has as destination positivity, albeit with occasional detours of regret.
Tunnel vision has led me to better discern surrounding energy; where I cannot see, I envision. Aura created by each encounter is another layer in Life’s surprises.
Summer 2021
FATE’S VOYAGE
Fate was hitched, to many passersby;
Overexertion of insecurity, seeking validation;
Time, nature, experiences, providing therapy, realization of self, on voyage of fulfillment
20 August 2022
Continuum Approaching Balance
The sifting goes on, searching for, finding the nuggets
Friendship, not based on quid pro quo, not on validations
Where a smile and conversation, uncharacterized by simulation, authenticate continuity
OM 25 Nov 2019
STRIKING GOLD Reflecting on Friendship
Process refined, many years’ process; Finding friends, sifting through silt of characters; Gold remains at the end, forever enriching our lives
Click to listen “Culture, Compromised, Conflicted” Variations on music of Mendelssohn and Hatzithakis by OM
In the late 1980s, there took place a wedding ceremony, held in a city located on the Tennessee River… The event reflected manorial medieval trappings: six bridesmaids, six ushers, maid of honor, flower girl, ring-bearing boy, wedding planner, limousine, austere music. Mainstream “societally-approved” practices were superimposed on the couple. The only ethnic accents were the ceremony language and koumparoi (best couple/man and woman).
The groom (a musician) asked that the music of Manos Hatzithakis be played in the church; he was immediately dismissed with the reply "Who, that communist?"
Whose culture?
Read more about Manos Hatzithakis (also spelled “Hadjidakis”):
Πίστευε και μη ερεύνα. * *Have faith and forgo thinking.*
or
Πίστευε και μη. Ερεύνα....
How important it was for the immigrant class to survive, against many odds, to establish a foothold in the New World. The newly-arrived formed organizations, presenting fellowship, and a united front against violence and discrimination. Before long, however, the offspring of immigrants did all they could to emulate the values of the perceived ruling class. It was now all about melding with the perceived puppeteers.
Preservation of language? Not. Displaying the organized religion? Absolutely. (The latter was “acceptable” in the membership of established judaeo-christian dogmas and social classes.)
Shepherds were needed to tend the flock. The word went out; scores of plebeian priests travelled to the other side of the ocean, assuming leadership of the ethnic communities. Thanks to the Ottomans, they were preordained ethnarchs, no introduction needed. From that moment of arrival on the shores of the New World, the estate of clergy and their successors have held on to the mantle of ethnic leadership.
Results? The second and third generations identify with their ethnicity via the established religion; knowledge of the language and culture of their ancestors is barely minimal to nonexistent; realization of present-day progression of culture, ethnic and other, is limited to the views as focused by the ecclesiastical prism. All comes together at the annual festival, the ethnic version of the all-county fair. Visitors leave the festivals, thinking that mousaka, spanakopita, "Zorba dance/opa” and ouzo are the ingredients of Hellenic culture. This has been repeated for decades, with a few tweaks in between. It is reflected in Athena, barely holding her own (in the mini-statue tourist version), alongside a mini-icon of Miriam (aka Mary) sold in the festival gift shop -- no contest -- the latter wins, hands down (and clasped together, every Sunday).
In-flight photo, Athens-Bilbao, 21 Nov 2023 OMClick to listen. “ELLAS-ESPAÑA”. OMBilbao, San Sebastián, Barcelona… In memory’s storage, creating energy for next adventure. BCN-ATH 26 XI 2023
Odysseus' Quest 