Athens Burns with Ancient Fever- a moment of silence please

The riots in Athens Greece have been all over the news the past few days. Despite Being the birthplace of democracy,cities around Greece, Athens in particular, have fallen to chaos.

Greece has had many riots since, however yesterdays were the first time that anyone had been killed in one since 1991. And unfortunately when it rains it pours. Four lives were taken, one not even begun.

Some say they shouldn’t have been there trying to open the bank. But they were just doing their job. A day closed for a bank isn’t great for business and nor is spending the day in the street. It isn’t good for the current workers of the city, nor the future workers. All public and Greeks schools were closed. Only Foreign schools remained open the past few days.

Others say that it was fair that they be killed. Some people refuse to call it murder, but they just wont accept the facts. These people were killed because of the actions of many. One individual who threw the Molotov cocktail, and the large horde of protesters who blockaded a street so as not to let the fire engines reach the burning bank, wasting precious moments in saving the victims lives. Most likely they dies of suffocation due to the smoke. If the engines had been there earlier, they could have very easily been saved.

Alas the most infuriating thing is the lack of responsibility and initiative on everyone’s part. Mostly the bank the the victims were trying to open. They say the government should have protected them. Provided them with security. so on and so on. We’ve heard it all before. But why couldn’t the business have closed down, refused to open for the security of its employees in a preemptive strike? Especially a bank, especially in that area, the most notorious for violent riots. The Answer: Greed, but does it have to be? It seems as though since the beginning of time  people have not managed to survive past childhood without being tainted by corruption and greed.

On top of that, are such riots even legal? If we take a glance at what happens every time Greece erupts into a fit of  violent protests, no charges are made. I’m not radical, but I would like to see justice brought to the family of the victims. The point is that murder is against the law. Violent protests are against the law (people have a right to peaceful demonstration, but not riots such as we’ve seen of late). Especially when they put people at danger, let alone take lives. But at least charges could be pressed for the damage done by the rioters, no? why shouldn’t those who participate contribute to paying for the merchandise and property damaged or lost in fires? The Answer: Because no one is willing to call anyone out and have them pay the price. Also, how are you to identify one person among the hundreds of protesters.

Greece’s neighbor  with equally vivacious protesters came up with a witty solution. The riot police would use pressurized water cannons to subdue and control protesters which is highly effective. But when everyone is wearing gas masks and scarves and hoods? Turkey had the answer here too. The water in the cannons are tainted with a highly distinctive dye which is fairly permanent and has an unique molecular structure. The next day, or even week after, those who participated in the riots are exposed for all to see with dyed hands, faces and necks or any other skin that was exposed, as well as their clothes. It doesn’t come out even at the dry cleaners and if they try to throw the clothing out or give it away, its easy to tell that they are the guilty party. The idea stems from a way the ancient Greeks developed at the birth of democracy. All men were expected to attend the forums, the democratic houses of speech and discussion, and it was a great sin not to join. That person would be viewed as disrespectful or unpatriotic. So after the doors had been locked, guards would walk around the agora with a rope held between them at knee length which had been dipped into red dye. Any citizen stranded outside the forums would be spoiled by the dye which served as a form of public shaming. It was highly effective, so why does Greece refuse to implement such techniques now? That I do not have an answer to.

Anyways, more news from Greece today. My cousin who goes to a British School there sent me an email which I just read. She said the trees had suddenly started to pollinate again, with bundles of the white fluffy stuff drifting down from the sky like tears of the trees moving just as slowly as they grow. Everyone who is affected by allergies also cried their own tears again. “All in all” she says, “the attitude was very somber today at school. Almost everyone felt the pressure the crisis had put on them. Everyone felt sorrow for those souls lost and denounced those disgraced figures who took them before their time. Especially that baby. To think a life hardly even begun was affected by the riots, is a true shame. Hopefully he would have made his impression on the people who did this to him.”

I guess that really is all we can hope for. For them to rest, and for the nations problems to be ameliorated as soon as possible.

So let me ask my question of the day before I sign out. One person taking the life of one other is a horrible thing. One person taking the lives of many is even worse. So does that mean that these three live that we taken by many hands, a cynically twisted community effort, is dispersed among them to mean next to nothing in a court of law? I really don’t think it should. But leave your comments or email me at miraella_rose@yahoo.com to let me know your views on whats been happening lately or anything else. I’m all eyes.

One more thing, just to show how crazy things have gotten in Greece; soccer (or football if you prefer) games have been canceled throughout the country. At least one was canceled last night in Thessaloniki, the nations second largest city who also had a lot of riots of its own (cities throughout Greece struggled against the rioters, dont think it was just athens) and at least one other is canceled tonight. Volley ball games have been canceled as well. This is just to put the riots in scale for you. To think about how passionate the country is about soccer and how famous they are for their riots at soccer games (they provide the majority of the Greek riot police’s employment) have been canceled due to political riots. Ah, I guess for some Greeks there isn’t much difference between the two. Even I know how much politics is involved int he corrupt Greek soccer leagues. Entire books have been read about just the past ten years of it!

Paying a moment of silence (to the relief of my brother) for those who have suffered,

Mirella

When the going gets tough… do you get going???

Hello Everyone.

I just got home from a dance class around half an hour ago. Took a shower and washed my hair… nothing like a cool shower to cleanse you of your disappointment.

I guess you can guess that it wasn’t a very good class… We have recently started a new level, and let me tell you, the gap between the one I just passed and the one I’m in now, is HUGE! I can’t wrap my head around it. Some of the exercises, I get how to do in my brain, but the information gets lost on its way to my limbs in the rush because its too fast or too much is happening at once. The other half, my arms and legs get- or want to  get- but my mind doesn’t want to follow…

Ok, I don’t think that made any sense, but anyways,

Anyways, I’ve been thinking about dropping out. I wonder if it’s worth it to keep going. It seems to me that even just doing simple steps that I had been able to do easily before, I can no longer do. The fact that I don’t understand why is what makes me the most frustrated… I mean, a simple double pirouette I can no longer complete where as before I was able to do triples. Sure, now we don’t end in the same position. Now we land in an arabesque or attitude (not only do dancers dance with attitude but they have an attitude as well- pun intended) instead of the simple ending with our lifted foot on our knee as in the good old days that were not so very long ago.

For those of you who are dance illiterate, and arabesque is the easier of the two… well actually that depends on the position.  It’s when you have at least one hand extended in front of you (the other to the side or in front as well) and the leg is extended either behind, to the side or in front. For us, it rests at 90 degrees (or above) towards the back when landing a pirouette. Attitude is the same thing, (except the front arm might be raised -curved- above the head) with the lifted leg bent, but still at ninety degrees or above.

Ok, I’ve done all these before, I’ve even done pirouettes in arabesque and attitude positions… SO WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME NOW??? this is what I find truly infuriating…

so do I stay or do I go? I can’t decide… It has only been… not even a month maybe. I’ll stick it out till the end of the year at least.

Well my meager audience, I’m feeling rather tired so I’ll wrap it up with some nice discussion about sleep.

I came across this article from Yahoo News a few days ago. It’s rather interesting. Speaks of the different positions that people sleep in, saying which are good for you, which aren’t, which aid digestion and which don’t and most importantly, which will make you prone to snoring. Visit it and tell me which you think you are. I’m a yearner, foetus or free faller… Oh and it also speaks of which personalities tend to go with each position. I think it’s pretty accurate, for me at least.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/what-does-your-sleep-position-reveal-about-your-personality-1338293/

I find that rather interesting, the way superficial things, such as our appearance and bone structure or even the way we sleep, can have  deeper meaning. They can tell us about our personality and our most common disposition. Its for reasons like this that I find the ancient Chinese art of face reading very interesting. Some people believed that different bone structures depicted different personalities and dominant characters, and they made entire studies out of it. I also love Venetian masks. I’ve made a habit out of collecting them and studying them. I’ve learnt which colours were used most often and why and what characters they represented because at a masquerade it was your visual colours that mattered not you personality colour… For example, modern ones use a lot of gold and silver, but traditionally those are two colours to use very sparingly. They both symbolize restlessness, mistrust, greed (how unexpected) and pompousness…

Not that you asked to know…

Oh and some more news: This blog reached a top of 10 views today. Half of which were just to the home page. I can count about 4 of them… at the most. So I wonder who my mystery readers are.

Well whoever you are, I hope you enjoy.

Adieu my readers, Adieu!