Next 200 years will also be difficult

The first 200 years are the difficult ones, my friend Vasilis Papavasiliou says sarcastically whenever he gets the chance, referring to the approaching bicentennial of the start of the Greek War of Independence, leaving those listening to wonder about the precise meaning of his statement.
The anniversary will apparently be quite a celebration, since the government has entrusted Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the former head of the Organizing Committee for the 2004 Athens Olympics, with its arrangement.
In my opinion, he may either mean that since there has been no significant change in the Greek mind-set over the past 200 years, there is not much hope of anything different in the next 200, or that since we managed to survive the past two centuries despite our collective weaknesses, we can hope for something better from now on.

You can decide for yourself what you...

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