Summer, the season of freedom…

Demetrios Rhompotis

Summer is well under way and those of you who can be close to the sea breeze, filling your lungs and soul with the rejuvenating wafts of the particular aroma salty water exudes upon smashing on the beach sand (while your well covered eyes under the sunglasses are sipping in the poetry of the semi nude sirens parading their youth and beauty abundantly and in defiance of time) consider yourselves happy and accomplished! Those of you who are close to making the decision to undertake such a break, don’t think twice, just do it! Those who for work reasons can’t have such a treat this time, boil in your sweat and think of your turn in winter to some Caribbean island. As in the Aesop’s myth with the ant and the cicada, the hard working ant takes his revenge in winter (in the modern Greek version of the same myth, however, it’s the cicada that has it good both in summer and winter, to the dismay of the ant. Of course that version became popular before the economic meltdown).

Sounding a bit like Toula’s father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the word for freedom in Greek, “eleutheria”, is reputed to have been formed from the expression “coming of summer” (έλευσις θέρους). In other words, our super intelligent ancestors had the idea of freedom coinciding with the liberating feeling that summer exerts on people. So, this season isn’t just a time to stop working, get out of the routine, go places and do wild things (the interpretation of the last possibility varies widely) but an opportunity to taste freedom, to live beyond (and not necessarily without) the constraints of mere conventionality that makes our life possible and civilized, but not necessarily real…

So, enjoy, relax, force yourself to live out of the box, as hard as it seems sometimes, be lazy and take your time! September is closer than we think and we have a lot of work to do! See you then…