Stories from a man towards the fellow man

Random Pieces Of Mind

2009-11-26T00:54:00.001-08:00

So it's raining again today.After 6 years in Athens no matter how much I' ve changed people seem emotionally stagnant and miserable.Funny thing is that I m fighting as well not to be like them.I m trying to cast off this negativity that runs through everyone.I m trying to be well-intentioned with the fellow man.Truth should be told I m failing on this one as patience and optimism were never my strong point.

I m taken by surprise by the smell of optimism that dances on the air since the first day the new government (PASOK) came.Before elections came in everything was black now they all pressed a button and they acquired green hopes.Oh the media.It's a great science the study of psychology of mass and the energy it carries on to the community.

Days like these i m thinking about my childhood.I see people online with whom we ve learned to write together, fight,play with marbles , knock down old abandoned houses.After so many years so many things have changed.You try to start a conversation but there's a lot of constraint so you leave it half all the time.We are no longer playing with marbles either knocking down houses together.

2030

I dream of a house in a meadow surrounded by 20 acres of solar panels.
My field of vision is restraint by two-three hills which they go green-red in spring from the poppies, yellow the summer and they are left baldly in the winter.My kids are playing outside at my orchard with bugs and my wife is gathering tomatoes for the salad.Life has slow and easy-going rhythms.Nothing around us works with oil anymore, the world has moved forward and found the golden spot.Technology no longer reacts against environment's prosperity.There is no deception anymore as money is no longer the driving force of this planet.There is no starvation, no war since they solved the energy problem.The third world is no more.All the depressed areas of Africa after the energy revolution became green fields.The new technologies have completely used the geologic and climate status there.Sahara Desert covers the 45% of world's energy demands.Some gazilionare humanitarian gave all his money to set up solar plants in whole desert.

Present
As my mind is drifting away reality wakes me up and i m back at work.Suddenly I feel like when i tried to push a 3 times heavier than me kid and fell down.Volume Displacement they call it in physics.

Internet Friends

2008-09-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this you probably already know what Internet Friends are. We all learned in some part of our life what pen-friends are. Basically I think internet friends are the evolution of pen-friends. Pen and paper is considered lame nowadays for communication. We have so many e-forms to do it. Internet Chat Services, Social Internet Sites, Electronic Mail countless possibilities to contact someone else far away just behind your pc.

However this phenomenon raises some issues. Our fellow man has stopped looking us in the eye. The new generation kids walking outside will not look inside your eyes. Chicks or boys. The percentages of those that dare to make a straight forward introduction of themselves are dropping day by day. They won’t give you a phone number or a name or an address. However they will be happy to give you their msn username or their facebook/myspace profile where you can look them up and talk to them.

It’s funny. No it’s not. It’s actually hilarious. We live in an age with an ominous future without any doubt. Something might come one day, something big and we are going to need all the help we can get. I wonder will mankind actually make it? Society’s principals change day by day more and more. People become more alienated day after day and then they seem to develop anything that has to do with a word that’s ending with –phobia.

A friend of mine told me he lives in his apartment for 7 years now. He met his neighbors the day that an earthquake happened. What the hell? I mean ok when a disaster will happen the moment you are going to need help you will ask it won’t you? However why not knowing your neighbor in good times? Do you need the worst? Do you need to get scared and desperate in order to remember that “hey a human being is living just near your door”.

So yeah this whole internet friends deal is not something I judge right now. I’ve met wonderful people through the internet however overtime only few made it after 6-7years to my top friends list. I feel them as if they were living on the same street with me. I sometimes dream with them and making plans of opening a bar together somewhere in Amsterdam or something however I don’t know who the fuck lives next my door. And that’s not my fault I tried to be friendly I said Hello Hi good morning whatever but that scared look in their face is really a turn off.

Day by day people start to trust the people around them less and less. People are afraid of each other , they believe more what the television is spoon feeding them , they will not say who they are to you because they are afraid , however they will post all their personal details and their friends and their family members and even their kids in some internet social site.

Ok then I accept the fact that’s its more easy for people to press some buttons and form a bond with someone over a computer and meet a lot of people but do tell me. How many of those Internet people you met actually scarred you and helped you move forward in your life? How many of those internet friends will be around, no wait I meant online , for you next year? Will you still be talking to them what do you think?

What did you say? You are afraid to tell me who you are? But why I’ve seen you on facebook. I know your family your friends your schoolmates where you live what you do for living what you ate yesterday but you still will not tell me your name when I ask you straight forward in person?

It really makes me wonder.

Isn’t this hypocrisy at its best?

Greece 2008

2008-01-30T23:03:00.000-08:00

So...We live in a world that they tell us only what they want us to listen.They show us only what they wants us to see.In 2008's Greece there is no doubt that government manipulates television.We pay taxes for all god damn year long.A regular household here , pays about 38.8% of their income (without children).
Yet social insurance sucks , our roads are filled with holes and prices are going higher day by day on products like milk,bread and meat.Since we joined Europe , our country has got a lot of funds from Europe's cashier in order to finish "works" of evolution and progress (roads, forest rebuild etc).
I ll say 2 words people. FUCKING BULLSHIT. It's a common sense here the fact that Greek Government overprices those "works".So if a major road here that was raised with European funds was priced 800.000.000 Euros (I m quite confident and every Greek citizen will support this) they have kept in their pockets at least 100mil euros.Of course I'm a regular human being , I am not rich and I have no proof of this.We all seem to know it but it seems nobody can actually get a gun and execute those bastards or get proof of their evil deeds. Our politicians are nothing more than thieves.They are living on our back and on our effort to live a decent life.

But this is not all of it. I m confident that you are familiar with Siemens Corruption Scandal involved with Greek politicians and our national Telecommunication Service Provider (OTE).
Funny shit is that if you open television here in Greece you will not see anything about this.You will see about a politician that fucked his secretary and he tried to commit suicide because he was being blackmailed and about Archbishop Christodoulos that died.

They had live his funeral and as I m writing this they still do.They show a dead corpse all fucking day long while our Government is fucking involved in one of Europe's greatest financial scandals.
I would not be surprised if in Germany people from Siemens would go to jail and here in Greece get away.There is no justice people.
They have blinded the world they show us trash on television to keep the regular citizen in a dream world.They want us slaves my fellowman.Wake up and spread the word.
Things are not as they seem.Don't be vain and shallow people think about it.Start questioning the shit they show you and tell you.

Flashback: The Old Lady

2008-01-16T05:25:00.001-08:00

So here I am , standing outside my apartment where I moved a couple a years ago. From the first moment I rented this house I was deeply amazed from the first moment I’ve seen the granny of the nearest apartment. She’s about 90 years old, living all alone. Every afternoon she sits at her balcony just when the sunset starts. She has this waiting expression all over her face like waiting for somebody.

“Poor ol’ lady” I thought “living alone here. Well she is already at a difficult age so I m going talk to her so, if she need’ s some help one day she’ll have the courage to ask it from me.”

“Good morning granny”. No reply.

The next day. “Good morning Granny!” No reply again and this time an angry look.

“Oh well” I think “under the medication she is she’ll probably taken me for a green dragon or something”. She will get to know me no problem I m her neighbor after all.

After 2 years:

That fucking stupid old hag still does not say a good morning to me. Even so she never missed on gossiping about me, my wife and my brother with that other bitch my landlady. Who comes in , who comes out , how many beers we bought , our laundry every fucking everything.

And me? I’m the stupid 24 year’s old boy that wanted to be friends with his fellowman and neighbor. Every time I see now this old hag outside her balcony waiting I want to whisper to her ear with the most terrifying way “Do not wait any longer mortal. I m death I have come to take you.”

Bottom Line:

I don’t know why people have stopped looking their fellowman inside the eyes. This town, Athens is one of a kind I tell you.

I live in Kypseli, the world's second most densely populated urban area.

Being around people is not an issue here you can see them they are all over the place from so many different countries. I respect every people that chose to live in this shit hole because I completely understand them.

But do tell me oh dearest fellowman, why the fuck do you deny the hand your fellowman has to give you? Why don’t you mind your own business and stay out of mine. There is no trust for fellowman these days. Society’s stereotypes and the media have manipulated people so much that people lost trust to each other. We do not know who lives next door and it has come to “we don’t care and don’t want to know” feeling.

Don’t let them treat you like animals. You are not sheep and definitely they are not shepherds... After all how many shepherds have you seen with bodyguards and silk suits?

Athens Urban Transport

2008-01-06T23:57:00.001-08:00

Many of you that live in a European country widely use urban transport. Whether you use Metro or City Bus when you reach your destination or you are ready to get on board usually people wait for the passengers to get off. This does not happen in Athens Greece I assure you.

So you decided to take City Bus? Ok fair enough. If you are a kind man and wait for the passengers to get off the bus (which is the right thing to do) the following things happen to you:

a) Everybody is pushing you away so they get on the bus first

b) You enter the bus last

c) Of course you are not going to find any place free to sit because you simply did not have the nerve to push away those that were getting off on your way in.

d) When I say everybody is pushing you away I mean everybody even those old ladies that under other circumstances would beg you to stand up for them to sit.

You are already five minutes outside the door and your humanism has taken 4 major hits already. Do you have any idea how it feels like to be 24 years old with respect for your fellowman and suddenly an old lady 60+ years old out of nowhere pushes you, to get inside the bus first, causing you to hit your head on the door of the bus?

But this is not the only problem. City busses of unknown quality (since we buy them used from fellow European Countries) that are designed to carry 75 people maximum they carry 100+ and the stupid driver goes with 80khm inside city! I mean what the fuck! Is this a City Bus or some kind of horror train in some Luna Park?

They are animals I tell you.

Athens Urban Transport Survival Guide:

Stand in front of the waiting line to enter the bus with an iron will look in your face. When the door opens get inside with steady and certain step. Anyone that is going to try and push you will find nothing more than strong resistance. No matter what they do you should not let them push you or get in front of you unless you have already cancelled your ticket and got a place to sit.

Keep in mind “survival of the fittest” applies in this town. It’s a jungle here not a European capital.

After Popular Demand....

2008-01-03T04:57:00.000-08:00

...I have decided to create an English version of my Greek blog.So allow me to introduce myself.

I m 23 years old and I work since I was 14, I live alone since I was 19 and I m getting married On May ’08.I woke up one beautiful day of April and I decided to leave my hometown Serres (55k citizens or so) and go work in Athens.

You see in small Towns here in Greece usually you cannot find decent job opportunities. You will work for like 12 hours per day for pennies without health insurance and you will not be able to report it to a work inspector. Because if you do the following will happen:

a) You will get compensation as the law demands

b) You will get fired

c) No one will ever hire you at this town to work for them because you will be the man that brought the work inspector. And of course that is bad for every greedy bastard Greek businessman.

If you live in Europe you will wonder what the fuck? Why is that so? I will tell you why. You will sign a paper that says that you get paid for 680 euros per month (which is the average salary in Greece by the way) + health insurance.

So in total you should cost about 900-1k euros per month to your boss. But as we said before, no health insurance, remember? In Greek terms this means that they will never pay your health insurance money and keep them. But in the papers it will say that you’re getting paid. So the government will tax them less if they have more expenses. Do you get it? So if by any chance you will ask for your health insurance money because you have family and kids they will say to you “ok no matter what you signed if you want health insu money np get 500 euros and I pay from the rest 180 your health insurance”.

Amazing the Greek mind isn’t it? This is happening for the last 30 years in small Towns in Greece. Everyone knows everybody so news travel fast about who are you and where you worked. Cv’s have absolutely no power at all. It’s your previous employer’s word that counts and a decisive factor if you will get the job.

So the only place that you can demand your rights as a worker is Athens and Thessalonica at this moment. So this is why I left my town. But as you will see I have come across other problems. Big City Problems unknown to the eyes of the boy that came from the mountains ( :P).

From the first moment I was trying to have good relationships with every living person I met there because we are Humans after all and we might need our fellowman to help us.

Even so after 4 years I’ve been living into this damn city every passing day I’m getting more fed up and angry against society here. Sooner or later I feel my patience is going to crack and then I’ll get damn Molotov cocktails to throw against Government Buildings.

So Week by Week I’m going to write here true stories from Athens Greece so the world can see that this Capital (and country) has nothing to do with European Standards.

Ta ta.