Count with me these instances of truth, how many Christmas have you felt apart from joy and eagerness, a sense of melancholy. How many times has your spirit been divided by whether we give true sense to these holidays or we have become mere consumers of any kind. Have you ever caught yourself discreetly and hastily looking at all those homeless people on the streets? Have you thought about them, and how during Christmas holidays their streets – their home grounds- are flooded with families and people who share these days with their loved ones?
Perhaps all these thoughts have cost you, maybe you have troubled yourself with them before. Maybe you have agonized over how you could help too. Maybe you chickened out. Maybe you’re scared. I wonder how much more light-heartedly you would enjoy all those moments in life and assets in the world if less people felt lonely, suffered from sicknesses or mental health issues while more of those people found others to love and embrace at Christmas?
I know, perhaps you feel as if I have come through this lines all the sudden to agitate you with guilt and judge your own need to enjoy Christmas the way you want. But not really. I have come to whisper in your ear that you too are strong enough to change what you see and whatever you have turned a blind eye from. I’ve come to remind you that the answer to all those social problems that exist in your society, Thessaloniki, are not just for those few that have developed their empathy a little more than you have. The same way you would make a list for presents for your loved ones, the same way this year you can make a list of all the things in your possession that you have never used. Or you may list the few hours which you could spend helping all those volunteering teams and centers in Thessaloniki that are responsible for the care of the homeless in this city.
Your soul hides many valuable aspects. No one was born more human that you were. No one was born with a greater sense of solidarity than you were. Everyone cultivates it. So if these days you identify yourself with all these thoughts, just take a step and do it. We are the ones who have created reality around us. We shape society and not the other way around. If we zoom out of the picture, if we raise our glance and truly see the world, how many things would we change if we had the power? How much joy would we share every Christmas and every other single day of the year?
Guess what? We already have that power.
Even those who consciously choose the road as a home never say no to a few acts of love, especially when they see happy people going in and out of beautifully decorated buildings and hesitate to feel similarly. On the roads and backstreets of Thessaloniki, at those familiar and at those forgotten places of the city, you may see another homeless, weary and tired, and as my last sigh of sincerity I ask you, how many times will you just hastily pass them by?
Translation: Niki Saridaki