Τhe summer of 2026 is fading away. Soon, autumn will be upon us. Schools will be opening their doors before we know it. In general, life is returning—or, if it ever stopped—to its normal rhythm. The great return of the omogeneia who visited Greece has already begun.
Returning back home, we carry more than just our luggage.
We also carry our experiences: what we lived through, what we saw, and what we heard.
We did not simply “recharge our batteries,” as the expression usually goes. If that were all there was to it, perhaps we would not have needed to travel for ten hours, spend so much money, and take time away from our jobs.
During our visits to Greece, we do much more than that.
By reliving the past—the family home, our relatives and friends, the sea, the sunset—we search for the meaning of our lives, for answers to the unpredictable turns along the way, both the pleasant and the unpleasant, as we try to understand what we have become today.
Yes, somewhere in all of that lies the story of who we have become. “The city follows us” as Konstantine Cavafi said.
Life is like a thread that may seem to break at certain stages of our lives, but it never truly does.
It is a continuation. Today follows yesterday, and tomorrow follows today.
Yet along with all of this, we also take home a firsthand picture of the country’s current situation—a picture that we compare with our previous visits, as well as with the impressions we form through conversations with people we know and through the media.
And the objective impression, I believe, is that Greece is changing. It is making progress. It is evolving. It is taking advantage of the technology available to solve problems that once seemed insurmountable.
Undoubtedly, there are still many problems that remain to be solved, and at times they create the impression of a society in decline.
Yet, the overall result, however, is clear: Greece is changing.
This is an achievement that must be protected by every possible means.
