519 - The innocent, the saints and the humans

Ν. Λυγερός
Translated from the Greek by Athena Kehagias

With the new data, the children of the enclaved were able to come to the free parts of Cyprus.
And if that in itself represents a small exodus then that’s not enough.
Our battle can’t, and shouldn’t end in this way.
These kids set the example with their mere innocence.
And now we, who have lost it for some years now, should follow their small steps.
It’s not enough that they came, we have to go as well.
Otherwise, their prison will remain locked up.
Only we can prove to them, that we haven’t forgotten them all these years, and that hereon we will see them as often as we can.
We shouldn’t only ensure the existence of schooling, there must also be free way of thinking.
Τhey are not asking for us to die for them, but merely to live with them.
We must exist as well within the occupied territories.
In order to sustain our roots we ought to keep them moist with human contacts, lectures and courses.
The teachings has a lot to bring to fruition in the occupied territories.
In the free parts, teaching is an occupation and a passion, whereas in the occupied territories it constitutes a struggle.

There is no need to teach an official program as teachers, which contains the words, I don’t forget, if we aren’t playing our new role.
The obligation of a teaching is not only the learning aspect, but the liberalization of thought as well.
And when I don’t forget the future, I see the needs of the children.
Every teacher knows by now, that they need them.
But the difficulty lies with compassion, because it disturbs the everydayness of a life that fades away with oblivion.
And our memory constitutes a wound, just as the authentic life does.
But it’s only then, that we can grasp the substantial meaning of our work, because the children in the occupied territories are not only photographs and paintings, as we observe in all our schools.
On the contrary, they are people who are in need of our love.

What can we actually do?
We could all do something as teachers: student exchange, using the Internet, offer of computers, joint programs, participation in the olympics of mathematics, free participation in the Agro Summer Schools, organized by the Mathematical Society, history lessons right at the places where history actually occurred, theatrical workshops in the occupied territories, etc. or school excursions, which even if they are merely superficial, they allow for the first contacts of the children to take place.
Because we are responsible for all our children.
Consequently, we should help them to carry out joint projects, because what is memory for us, is the future for them!
With the new data, our battlefront has opened up, and even though some still shut their eyes, it’s a matter of time before they open them.
Whereas our children, with their big eyes, are observing the future through our work.
They are not afraid to move on, because the world belongs to them.
And when they become aware about the liturgy of the Bishop of Morphou, which was stopped by the occupational system’s agents, they believe more in the human, the human who constitutes an indicative example of the true resistance which must take place on the opposite side, so there will no longer be an opposite side as such.
And while some are talking about the functionality of a plan, those who fight against oblivion run servoces at our churches.
In Greece the krifo scholio saved our memory. It was rescued by the monks and the children.
Now in Cyprus, the same ones are pointing out to where the real battle takes place. So let’s help them as well, not as the innocent, nor as saints, but as human!