Today has been our first full day in the city of Thessaloniki. We started off the day by having a scenic bus tour. We visited the white tower. At this site a lot of protestors have pitched tents. Unlike the riots in Athens, it seems like there was not a lot going on. We saw a lot of pitched tents and signs, but very few people.
Our tour guide sympathizes with the protestors. She says that they are tired of corruption, of politicians cutting all the salaries except their own. She says the people know where the money has gone: straight into the pockets of the politicians. The riots we’ve been seeing on the news have gotten worse. We’ve seen protectors throwing hunks of marble at police officers, and police officers brutalizing a defenseless protestor.
Witnessing such events reminds me of how young Greece really is. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that Greece is a very old civilization, but the new government is young compared to some governments. I’m impressed that the Greek people care enough to protest against corruption. One of the scariest things I’ve noticed about many people my age is the overwhelming amount of apathy. Many people just don’t care. Politics are some distant thing that we don’t think about or focus on. A healthy amount of interest in politics is good for society.
While the riots in Athens haven’t been completely peaceful, there seems to be a general desire for a peaceful resolution. Jesus in Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God” (ESV). This makes me wonder how I might be a peacemaker for change. Some things are worth fighting for, and how we fight for these things does matter. On Rhodes we learned about the crusades, and even though the order of St. John was an order of hospitallers, for the most part the crusades were very violent. To this day we see the crusades as a blight on our Christian heritage. How might our heritage look different if we had always employed peace as our weapon?
The world is full of people who think and believe different things. These differences often lead to conflict. If society could learn to settle differences though peaceful resolution the world would be a very different place. Sadly, the world and people are not perfect. As a Christian I look forward to the day when Christ returns to earth and truly brings peace to mankind.