Greeks and Politics

Ok, so yesterday was not a good day for Liverpool, but that's life...every day can't be a good day, but there certainly should be more good days than bad. A conversation with my mother a few days ago sparked off some thoughts in my mind, and as usual, I thought that conveying them may or may not be a good idea. You see, for as long as I have been living in Greece, I have always found myself comparing the two worlds I have lived in. Now you may say that this is not a good idea, as we are talking about two opposites, two very different sides of the coin. However, my mother's words do keep bothering me. As we were talking about how some people have managed to secure, not only their own futures, but that of their offspring, mum remarked that some people were just lucky in life. I did not react at the time, but over the past few days I have been thinking about luck and its effect on our lives. Many things tend to conflict with the theory that it is all a question of the "right time, right place", especially here. Take lucky games, for instance, I clearly remember that when the lottery first began in the UK, as I was there, people would wait beside their TVs for the draw, and lo behold, a winner was found. Over the next few days, there would be an interview with the winner, no names mentioned of course, but there was at least a feeling of hope that one day it would be one of us who would win. Over the twelve years I have lived in Greece, I have never heard a winner being referred to, or mentioned. Everything is so low key, that it makes me wonder if somebody does actually win. I have been playing lucky games ever since I came here, and no, I have never even come close..but it does make me think. Another "lucky" coincidence is that politicians, members of parliament, local leaders, all seem to be "set up " in life. A bundle of money in their pockets, they rule our country, and, not only that, you see citizens daily announcing their visits to a ministry, a local political office or even dropping their acquaintance with party members into every conversation they have. Where in the world does this actually happen. Maybe I've only ever lived in Britain, but I never remember my life revolving around a member of parliament that may or may not have lived in my neighbourhood, let alone visit him to talk about a piece of land that was not actually allwed to be built on, to see if he could something. And what about the other curious things ...for example every school child has a dream of going into the civil service!!! A dream of working in offices of the state, in schools, in the health service and why??? Because they are permanent, and when I say permanent I mean it. You get your monthly pay cheque, qualified or not, competent or not, polite or not!!!! And the icing on the cake is that you have to break the law in a BIG way to ever get fired!!! So why shouldn't kids have this dream?? Even the police force is a big plus. Have you ever seen a police officer drinking on duty? I can tell you it does not give you greatest feeling of safety. And don't even get me started on local authorities, anything goes, along as you have voted for whoever is in power. So does luck have anything to do with anything, I ask myself. My reply is No!!! There is always a way round things, sometimes illegal, other times immoral, but that has nothing to do with luck. On the other hand, I'm still counting on my lottery numbers showing up on the TV screen one day.......