...Now, you ask me why I am proud to be Greek? Mmm...please, sit down...this won't take a moment...
2) Because we buy whole lambs and not in pieces
3) Because nights in Greece finish in the morning
4) Because we take our coffee slowly, while smoking and not in "shots"
5) Because flirting is our national hobby
6) Because we have a small, poor country full of people with big hearts
7) Because we always moan about the public sector yet everyone seeks to get a job in it
8) Because we are not puritans
9) Because we are not racists
10) Because we cheat openly, without trying to hide it
11) Because we go out almost every night even if we are penniless
12) Because we know how to spend better than we know how to save
13) Because we never visit others empty handed
14) Because there is no way to explain to foreigners what is "kapsoura" (burning desire for someone)
15) Because in Greece family is still something valuable
16) Because God did not choose us as His favourite people, but we chose God
17) Because we always make it, albeit in the last moment
18) Because we were slaves for 400 years yet never bring that up as an excuse for our current state
19) Because for the sake of a woman we made war for 10 years (Helen)
20) Because we are everywhere around the planet
21) Because we love and hate with passion
22) Because "filotimo" (friend of honour, helping someone because it is a shame not to) does not exist in any other language
23) Because whenever foreigners cannot find a word, they use one of ours
24) Because we spend our bad and low times with our friends and family, not with shrinks
25) Because Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were Greek
26) Because we invented theatre
27) Because we gave birth to Democracy
28) Because we discovered logic
29) Because we jump-started science
30) Because we are proud of our culture, not of our wars
31) Because when others were discovering meat, we already had cholesterol
32) Because when we were building the Parthenon, the others were still sleeping on trees
33) Because we give the light to all these leaders who are "striving" for peace by making wars
34) Because we wear sandals without socks
35) Because Tsikoudia from Crete is the strongest drink in Europe (85% alcohol)
36) Because we have a distinction between Eros (falling in love) and Agapi (innocent love), while we feel both of them passionately
37) Because Eros was a Greek God...
...one minute sir, I need to pee, signomi...
........
.......
...that's better...ok...
38) Because we gave the oath "freedom or death"
39) Because when others used to be clothed with wolf skin we were weaving see-through linen
40) Because "Greeks do not fight as heroes, heroes fight like Greeks" (Winston Churchill, 1941)
41) Because we don't use ketchup with our food - it tastes good anyway
42) Because we gave our ancient alphabet to the Romans and our medieval alphabet to the Slavs
43) Because we converted all of Eastern Europe into Christians
44) Because we get angry quickly but we forget all about it even quicker
45) Because we are not ashamed to cry
46) Because we dance when we are sad
47) Because we work to live and we do not live to work
48) Because 97% of the stars' in the sky are named in Greek
49) Because although we know danger well, we dare
50) Because when you shout "brother" in the streets everyone turns around
51) Because we always talk about getting on a diet after we've had a meal
52) Because we speak loudly and laugh even louder
53) Because we do not know what anxiety is
54) Because, although we smoke more than anyone in the world and eat the most red meat in Europe we live the longest in Europe
55) Because we are start with "just a coffee" in the early afternoon and end up wired off our heads in the morning
one minute...need to pee again, signomi...
.........
...OK, nearly finished...
56) Because we walk in the streets at 2:00 in the morning and there are traffic jams
57) Because we walk in the streets at 4:00 in the morning and there are traffic jams
58) Because girls are not scared to walk alone in the streets at 2:00 or 4:00 o'clock in the morning
59) Because the inside of all our churches are not dark, but full of light
60) Because we are direct
61) Because we know how to cheat...
well sir, I think that's all for now...although...
62) Because we never report people who cheat
63) Because we always have a solution to problems, even if usually indirect or illegal
64) Because we have tendencies to extremity
65) Because our parents do not forget that we exist when we reach 18
66) Because when we want to sunbathe, we go to the beach, we don't crawl on grass or jump into pools
67) Because we confront every difficulty with humour
68) Because the Olympic games were born here
69) Because, with our (Olympic) light, we unite the world and pass the message of peace
70) Because we live permanently in the country that foreigners dream to visit for a week
71) Because our sky is blue, not grey
72) Because we have the cleanest seas on the planet
73) Because 40% of Oxford dictionary is made up with Greek words
74) Because we are a poor country with very rich citizens
75) Because we know what "Kefi" (propensity to fun) means
76) Because we like to spend money and eat fish while they are still fresh
77) Because Homer wrote Iliad 3500 years ago and Hollywood turned it into a movie just recently
78) Because in Greece nobody is hungry
79) Because in Greece nobody is homeless
80) Because we speak foreign languages - who learns Greek?
81) Because we grow hallucinogenic weed without biological engineering!!
82) Because our "model for life" has many curves
83) Because we are European Champions in football...
84)...
...OK, Kritikos...we get the picture...that's enough...they've all switched off...
...come on, my friend, take my arm...and don't forget your stick...
...siga, siga...hey! Antonákis! Where's my goat?...

Sandy with Kritikos - he's on the left...er...I mean the right!
originally posted on the incomparable, www.hellenism.net
Nikos and Lefteris, Pigadia Town, Karpathos.
from a painting by Tony Brown
yeia sas ~ kalo taxidi

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