Vasilios Theodorakis – An Online Author

theodorakis.org is a digital repository of all my written work (in text and podcast formats)…

October 28, 2009

Courage and Decency

Filed under: General — Vasilios Theodorakis @ 9:40 am

In spite of my ranting and raving there are still good people in the world – even if none exist in my own neighborhood! In western secular countries like Australia, you can still catch a glimpse of human decency especially if you stand still long enough and keep your eyes open wide enough.

For example, you see it in the woman who stops to help a young girl who’s dog has been run over on a major road. The woman makes a conscious choice to pull over when all other drivers pretend they don’t see anything going on and drive past the youngster’s tragedy.

You see it in the teacher who puts her pupils first, in spite of her back stabbing discriminatory colleagues who stop at nothing to get the cushy teaching jobs – year in, year out. The teacher has a habit of biting her tongue and getting on with the actual teaching, even though her own life has been made miserable by her co-workers.

You see it in the guy who continues to get up every morning even though all his hopes and dreams have been dashed by life’s unpredictability. In spite of his accumulated hardships, he continues to embark on new endeavors each and everyday – hoping that just one of them will bring some purpose to his life. He is the archetypal figure of stubbornness who refuses to give up on life, even though everyone else thinks life has given up on him.

Courage is a precious thing and cannot exist without decency. I have witnessed it first hand through these people and its rare occurrence continues to keep me going when the cowardice of the majority crashes over me like an insurmountable wave.

What people often miss, is that the courageous aren’t rich and have few resources to spare. They tend to become possessed (or is that obsessed) by the urge to manifest decency in the visible world and find it hard not to follow through on that urge. When they do achieve a win for their efforts, something or someone is often saved but the courageous rarely receive any personal gain. Alternately when they lose, the loss is always personal and sometimes substantial. The price the courageous pay can be financial, interpersonal, health based, or a loss of safety and security.

Years ago, I had the misfortune of listening in on a conversation led by an individual who had never lifted a finger in his life to help another human being. He was “slagging off” about a true hero, someone who had tried to save a drowning homeless person but instead drowned himself. The coward’s argument was that the dead hero should never have tried to save the homeless person, for the hero’s life was far more important than the homeless man’s life. If the hero had just minded his own business he would still be alive, and that’s all that mattered!

Such heartless attitudes, highlight how people’s social responses continue to be good or bad – right or wrong. Irrespective of whether you believe people’s responses can be categorized in this way or whether a God oversees such categories, a person can’t escape the repercussions of indifference as it has an uncanny ability to haunt one in the wee hours of the morn. For better or worse our human psyche is founded on such values and even the coward’s conscience will cause them distress until they either seek absolution for their lack of decency and/or die. Either way, a life that lacks decency eventually becomes meaningless.

I for one hope that I continue to grow in regards to decency, and believe that I’ll know when this occurs as my actions will become bolder and more courageous. My wife on the other hand, has nothing more to prove. She is already the most courageous person I know and everyone who encounters her always benefits from her decency – especially the children she teaches. ;)

Dedication (For my wife Helen and her friend Belinda Adams)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

October 23, 2009

The Fence

Filed under: Culture And Society — Vasilios Theodorakis @ 3:52 pm

Since I was very young, I’ve given people the benefit of the doubt in spite of their horrid treatment of each other, other creatures and me – no more however – enough is enough! I do not believe that those around us (my wife and I) are really interested in other people’s well being – not unless, they are forced (by law) to be interested in other people’s well being!

Social behaviour is getting more extreme and concern for one’s fellow human being is reaching an all time low – especially in our locality. In the past, I encountered malicious intent in only a few people around us. Now I find a large number of individuals are using it as an acceptable form of human interaction.

This really upsets me and I’ve often thought that our species doesn’t deserve its place in the biosphere. Even so, I doubt that our presence will be eradicated anytime soon. Its going to take some time for the planet to wipe us out and correct the mess we have made.

That being the case, and because I no longer trust our neighbourhood, we have decided to put up the strongest, highest fence we can afford. Our aim is to create an island sanctuary amongst this suburban insanity. Whether this action is enough to hold back the barbarian assault is anyone’s guess.

Moving elsewhere is unfortunately not an option.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

October 15, 2009

Cruising Through Time

Filed under: Ungrouped — Vasilios Theodorakis @ 10:50 am

Saddled up
And wading out,
We all embrace – though tentatively at first,
Our golden leaf ticket,
Validated by the conductor of our birth.

Often – it takes a while
For us to realise,
That our bodies
Are the carriages,
Of nature’s own time machine.

Witnessing change first hand,
And reliving the past in our minds,
We are all experts
By the time we step off,
And hand over our ticket stubs – though reticent,

To the grinning skull,
Of the sickle bearing station master!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

October 9, 2009

Site Update 046

Filed under: General — Vasilios Theodorakis @ 1:52 pm

What Do I Do With This God? – is a 1989 poem about a woman who had a tendency to throw her arms up in the air every time something went wrong in life. Instead of trying to address the problem, she would sit at home, pray and hope for the best.

Being uneducated and unfamiliar with the old adage (euphemism) that “God helps those who help themselves”, she had a tendency to cross her fingers and hope that God would provide her with everything she needed – not a very smart strategy under any circumstance.

Needless to say, the lady’s life went from bad to worse and her inactivity eventually caused her to lose her house.

The author for the week is the renaissance writer known as: Voltaire

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2009

October 2, 2009

Site Update 045

Filed under: General — Vasilios Theodorakis @ 3:00 pm

This piece touches on how insight and wisdom isn’t necessarily associated with age. In fact, its sometimes quite dangerous for young people to presume that just because someone is older (like their parents) that they are wiser. If anything, one should study a person’s behaviour and listen to what sort of things come out of their mouths before deciding on their level of insight. Likewise, their social status or role in society is really no indicator (these days) as to how wise they are as a person.

Called – Insight And Wisdom From Parents? – it was written in June 1989.

The author for the week is the poet: William Wordsworth.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2009

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