The Greek citizens watched in dismay as the flames consumed forests, then storage facilities, homes and cars - eventually taking the lives of dozens of unsuspected Greeks. The Greek citizens asked the State to intervene with the fire brigades and water-dropping aircrafts. And the Greek citizens waved their hands up in the air shouting, “God help us!”

It’s truly not a pleasant sight watching history repeat itself. Aesop himself, in one of his famous fables, painted the picture of a man who fell overboard from a ship - or a trireme back in these days of ancient lore. The man raised his hands up in the air, shouting to goddess Athena for immediate assistance. The response of his fellow crew members who heard his desperate cries was, “Ask for Athena’s help, but move your arms too” - Συν Αθηνά και χείραν κίνει.

Today’s Greek citizens lack initiative, direction and motivation. They possess the stamina and the ethos but these elements - along with the famous Greek “filotimo” - are buried deeply under the load of a culture which dictates putting off action until the last minute and never raising an eyebrow over future matters. Clearly, while this laid back lifestyle prolongs the life itself overall, it does not work well with calamities, disasters or surprises that in today’s world are more common than in the era of Pericles.

Greeks need strong, visionary educators and fewer career politicians. They need to be shown the use of the basic tools, the modern life equivalents of the hammer and the anvil of the old times. Much like their ancestors, the Greeks enjoy and thrive on drama but fail to incorporate solutions into their daily routine. Deus ex machina was invented by the Greeks as the ultimate solution - the divine intervention - when the plot of the tragic play reached a high level of complexity. But today’s modern times require less spectacle and more participation; more initiative and less apprehension. The Greeks must wake up from this artificial stupor that they have allowed themselves to delve in, for decades upon decades since independence from the Ottoman Turks.

The Citizens’ Call is not a call upon the authorities, the State, the politicians - it is a call upon the Citizens themselves. One cannot insist on change from others, unless they are prepared to commit to that same ability of accepting change and embracing progress.