A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis
LESSONS LEARNED BY THE AUTHOR (Part 19)
THE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GREEK REPUBLIC MR. CONSTANTINE TSATSOS
This is a continuation of the address by the President of the Republic Mr. Constantine Tsatsos on the occasion of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece on October 27, 1979.
“I have known of cases in which we have made this farmer, this manual worker, into a scientist. Let me tell you of one such incident. Among my many American friends who have come to Greece was a missionary named Packard. He had come in 1959-61 (at that time I was Under-secretary of Coordination). He tried to start the cultivation of rice in Greece. He went to the farmers and told them how it should be done. He met resistance, and then somewhere in Sperchiada, if my memory does not mislead me, he himself personally undertook the cultivation of rice. He took an area and planted rice in a sub-saline soil. Our peasants round about made fun of him. They followed his efforts ironically, saying “Nothing will come of that.” But when the rice began to come up, when he had his first harvest, and the rice went to market, the shrewd eye of the Greek farmer lighted up, and he began to say, “Something good is happening here.” And today, as you know, we have an economic sufficiency of rice throughout Greece. What this American did then you here at the School are learning to do for your village and your home. And that is why I have said to you that the period when you were manual laborers is gone – gone is the period of big hands and small heads. Now are needed both big hands and plenty of brain.
Today we have made for you a Lyceum. You have entered into the area of scientific education. It is a useful thing, I respect it and esteem it and laud it, but I want something more. I want what Bruce has spoken of, and spoken so well. It annoys me a little that I shall not say it so well as he did.
Into this project which ties you to the Greek earth, to your Greek fatherland, to your roots, I want you to put not only your mind which I ask for, not only your hands which Bruce wants – I want you to put into it also your soul. Why have we got ourselves killed for our freedom? Why do we say “NO” to anyone who dares lay claim to a Greek stone or a drop of Greek water? It is because we love this earth, and love is not just theory and thought. It is action, and the action for you is the increase of this earth by cultivation. From now on you will be like the Junkers in Northern Germany in olden times, who from generation to generation for a thousand years carried on the work of the farmer, and thus became feudal lords, the great aristocrats of the world.
From father to son, stay with the land, do not be afraid of it. Love this land and in your villages teach all those who are looking toward the cities and the diplomas making them proletariats of law and medicine that the land is the holy step in Greece.
If you do this you will have done more than any other Greek. I wish you good luck.”