{A good Greek female friend who I know for more than 20 years, sent me an e-mail commenting on a small text that I had written for my website for the month of January 2018. This text represents one of four small texts which I had placed for that month. I am including this text in the beginning so that my readers could better understand the context of her remarks. I shall not mention my friend’s name.}

A) The text from my website

‘The socio-cultural commonalities between the Greeks and the Jews’

Today, around the world, the Greeks and the Jews seem very much alike in their everyday behavior, their life ambitions and in their social culture.

I have lived in four different countries, in Egypt, in Canada, in Britain and in Greece, and have also traveled extensively. I have had close friends, schoolmates and associates from different ethnicities, races, religions, genders and ages. I was always a cosmopolitan , pragmatically, culturally and ideologically.

During my 67 years of existence, I have come to the conclusion that the two most unfulfilled , unhappy and existentially inadequate races in the world are the Greeks and the Jews. Both of these peoples are spread all over the earth, and approximately half of them live within their own national borders, the rest ,reside in a variety of countries. Many who are abroad , live in the United States, while the total number of each of these two peoples is approximately 20 million.
I personally believe that the causes which make these two races feel “existentially dysfunctional” and “socially insecure” are many , but the three most critical ones are the following:

First, they are racially and culturally “bastardised” , after thousands of years of history, through migrations and foreign domination, politically, economically, culturally and socially!!!

Second, their unstable and ever changing historical experiences have promoted a social and a societal environment which have exposed them on a permanent basis to a variety of survival risks. This is the reason why both Greeks and Jews have always put great priority on the accumulation of wealth “by any means” and ensuring the cohesion of the family unit, the clan and the race “at any cost” to the individual. Therefore, both of these Peoples are conservative, materialistic and traditional.

Third, in order for the family unit, the clan and the race could stay cohesive, imperishable and impermeable, these peoples have subdued the freedom of “personal expression” and “personal creativity” of its members, making the individual socially subservient and psychologically dependent on the centers of “power” and “influence” of each of these societal institutions- meaning the family, the clan and the race!!!

Within the family institution, the mother or the mother figure, is the critical factor for the socio-economic success of the family members, creating an “incestuous” and a “repressive” environment!!!

Within the clan, the male elders decide absolutely on the socio-economic evolution and progress of its members, like in education, marriage, profession and in political and religious standards.

Within the race, the deciding societal component which prescribes and enforces its integrity, its resistance and its unity is one’s identification with its “exceptional history”, which is defined and propagated by their traditional religious leaders, by their politicians, by their educators and scholars.

All of these cultural , societal and historical elements affecting “the persona” of Greeks and Jews alike, have produced “a Peoples” who is repressed and dysfunctional , mentally, psychologically, erotically and spiritually!!!

B) My friend’s comments related to my website text, translated into English

Alexander good morning,

I am well and not at all angry with you, as you would have expected or assumed.
I could have agreed with you in a broad sense. I could even have agreed with you almost entirely, if you would have used a comparative analysis related to non Jews or Greeks. I would have expected references with historical examples which could better have defined your analysis.

What can I say? That I regret studying the Sciences, whose tenets require a hypothesis, experimentation, substantiation and an explanation?

That is why I believe that your analysis would have been better understood also by simple folk who cannot see everything theoretically-they are insecure and can only observe the images they perceive or compare works by others which are based on facts. This category of people represent the majority, and maybe they also would wish to comprehend the texts they read.

Continue to write and don’t be in a hurry to finish.

Always your friend and reader, even with a slight delay.

C) My response to my friend’s comments, translated into English

My dearest friend hello!!!

I thank you for your letter and for your comments!!!

Ancient Greeks created a universal civilization under very harsh living conditions!!! They intimidated and turned against most of their own philosophers and scholars, but in the end, they not only acknowledged them they also glorified them. This took place because within their culture, there were three sacred social ingredients, the freedom of thought, the freedom of expression and the act of self-knowledge, with all the societal obstacles and the societal distortions for the individual, such as the status of women and slavery!!!

That is how you create a universal civilization and discover universal truths, ignoring your own personal security for the sake of human existence, which is very brief!!!

All my love,

Alexander

P.S. In present Greek reality, which I have experienced since I was a young child, there is great disrespect for the freedom of the individual and a mockery for nature’s checks and balances, because we are “toughies” and “sly”, and we know how to tell many lies to others , especially to ourselves!!! But at what cost? The demise of the human adventure, inner peace and human eroticism in all directions, especially with respect to life itself!!! The theatre of the absurd!!!

So the hell to all of us, and a travesty, a mortal travesty for all of us, especially for the children who are living this distortion of the greatness of life and of human kind.