Travelling against the winds

Author: Geadis Geadi

The article was hosted in the newspaper Simerini

The mercury is hitting red and the thermometer is about to break. Uneasy calm in Nicosia. The clock has just struck 7 a.m. and the first cars have begun to appear on the streets of the now dead capital.

Some of the youth are sleeping, having only gone to bed a few hours ago. They spent their night at a nightclub.

Others woke up early in the morning to pack their things, to visit a beach to cool off.

On a corner of a main street, some black figures appear, different, but certainly something that changes the routine of the day. Suddenly, with quick movements, they load something into the cars and then they also get on board and set off towards the unknown. I follow them...

They drive away from Nicosia in their cars. After a long way, they approach the Larnaca roundabout. The right lane that leads to the most famous spot in the city, the beach bar, the frozen yogurt, the new Cypriots, is packed. But they seem to have the opposite opinion. They keep to the left lane, which leads to the free area of ​​Famagusta.

As time goes by, the traffic on the roads increases. But the cars of this group stand out. They follow each other, like wild birds traveling against the wind with one goal. Other cars join their convoy.

After a long distance, they arrive, as it seems, at their destination.

They arrive at a church. They unload the cars. They prepare the flags and banners. In a few seconds, this group of people grows. People gather from all corners of the temple and line up in their lines. A torrent is created ...

The Greek flags rise high. They wave proudly in the air. And then the cry "Isaac - Solome, I will never forget you", tears the air.

Isaac? Solome? My thoughts surround these names for a few minutes. My memory takes me back a few years. But, yes? How is it possible that we forgot these two young scoundrels? And yet, they forced us to forget ...

I come back to the present. The children in the black shirts have left. I can't find them. I hear from the depths another loud cry "Turks, I will not forget". They must be them. I run and catch up with them. But, where are they going again? They cross the entire city, with strict discipline and a look full of will. The hot sun does not deter them.

The residents are forced to come out of their homes and applaud with tears in their eyes, the bravery of these children. They bow before their greatness.

They arrived at the cemetery, where our two martyred heroes are buried. In a corner, to stand out from the slobbering, paper-faced politicians, who run the cameras from behind. I get lost in my thoughts when I hear the National Anthem, taking me to other times...

A young kid in black, from this group, shouts to me: "Dude, do you want to come with us?" Without a second thought, I said "YES" and got into his car.

I didn't know where we were going, I didn't know who they were. "We've arrived," one shouts.

Someone else shouts “quickly down, let the flags be ready”. The flags are high again, waving proudly and the blue merges with that of the sky.

Suddenly, the beautiful blue breaks the red in the distance, with a crescent moon and a star in the middle. We have reached the roadblock. But yes, I think! This is where the two young men breathed their last.

Where is the world? How is it that we have all forgotten? Why does no one remember the two young men who sacrificed themselves for us? Shame on us!

But who are, after all, those who are here today? Then I see on their backs four capital letters in ancient Greek script. "E.L.A.M."... Panic and fear took over me...

They are the ones the channels are badmouthing... They are the ones the politicians are cursing... They are the ones the newspapers are badmouthing... Oh, my God, what have I gotten myself into...

And suddenly logic hits my mind! But they are not all that I hear! Then I wonder again, maybe I didn't see correctly? And then a slogan confirms what I saw. "E.L.A.M."

Crazy game in my mind. What I saw contradicts what I've heard... What should I believe? But these children in black are here and they are fulfilling the duty of all of us. They are here in the place of all of us, in our absence. We should be ashamed to speak ill of them... They are doing what all of us should be doing!

These, the children in black, are as if taken from another era. They remained uncontaminated by the modern sirens of the era, which infect our people. They are here to awaken all of us who have fallen asleep.

What would happen, I thought, if they didn't exist in this society? Who else would care? In an era when everyone worshipped, changed their faith and became infidels, these are the only ones who remained faithful. The last faithful...

Then, I grab a flag in my hands and with pride, as these children taught me, I raise it in the air. I move forward with them, in their lines, forward, always forward.

Geadis Geadis