Skating around responsibilities
Just when we were beginning to think that Athens may indeed be a beautiful and a tidy city, as candidate for mayor Christos Papoutsis recently said in an attempt to flatter Dimitris Avramopoulos, the present occupant of that public office, and woo the vote of his party of «Free Citizens,» a rainstorm fell to upset our principles of aesthetics, or, rather, to place them in a more suitable setting: The malodorous contents of countless plastic bags washed out onto the asphalt, turning the streets into an endless hazard for both pedestrians and drivers. Too bad the Winter Olympics are over, because with our growing experience in weaving through lemon rinds, banana peels, plastic rubbish and torn magazines, we would be able to excel at ice skating. Of course, if such a team were ever formed, it should be made up of political officials who have repeatedly proven that they are excellent at skating their way around responsibilities. Their skills, which they once again demonstrated in their wonderful performance of the play recently presented on the central political stage under the title «Whose is This Garbage?,» advanced the political discourse and helped restore honor to politics which, as is known, is systematically discredited by citizens and their endless nagging. Regrettably, the only thing which seems certain is that the show will be restaged shortly before the Easter holiday, as those who have created the problem deem that the citizens and the visitors to the capital are the members of an extremely durable species. The sole comforting prospect is that, at some point, the mountains of rubbish will be acknowledged as an inseparable element of Athens’s urban landscape and the internationally renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava will be called upon to undertake their aesthetic improvement. This appears more likely than the prospect of seeing the politicians and municipal officials stop skating their way around their duties, just as we skate around the scattered plastic proof of our prosperity. These turbulent times favor the development of extreme views. Wise leaders should curb such views. Above all, the European leaders ought to do their best to reverse the course toward havoc.
