hellenic pride

My dad sent this to me months ago, and I saved it because it makes me smile every time I read it. Just think of the Greeks you know and how true this is… Can’t you just hear Gus on My Big Fat Greek Wedding reading it to you? (The picture is of Patmos, the small town where my family is from.)

Why I am proud to be Greek:

Because nights in Greece finish in the morning.
Because we drink our coffee slowly and not in gulps.
Because flirting is our national pastime.
Because we go out almost every night, even if we are penniless.
Because we respect our grandmothers sometimes more than our wives.
Because we know how to spend better than we know how to save.
Because we never visit others empty-handed...we bring a cake or a bottle of wine.
Because we do not share the cost of gasoline with those traveling with us.
Because the word “filotimo” (helping someone because it is the right thing to do) doesn't exist in any other language.
Because whenever foreigners cannot find a word, they bloody steal one of ours!
Because we always make it, albeit in the last moment.
Because we love and hate with passion.
Because we spend our bad and low times with our friends and family; not with therapists and counselors.
Because Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were Hellenic and we still quote them!
Because we invented the theatre.
Because we gave birth to Democracy.
Because we jump-started science.
Because we are proud of our culture, not of our wars.
Because when we were building the Parthenon, the others were still sleeping under trees.
Because when others created wars, we created the Olympic Games to stop wars.
Because we don't use ketchup or mayonnaise with our food!
Because we get angry quickly, but forget about it even more quickly.
Because Greek men are not ashamed to cry.
Because we dance when we are sad and party when we are happy.
Because we work to live and do not live to work.
Because 97% of the cosmic stars are named after Hellenics.
Because although we know danger well, we dare.
Because when you shout “adelfi” (brother) in the streets, everyone turns around.
Because “Greeks do not fight like heroes; heroes fight like Greeks.” (Winston Churchill, 1941)
Because we speak loudly and laugh even louder!
No one will love you more deeply than a Greek.

“S’agapo” to all my readers out there!