GREECE, I THANK YOU

Far too little is credited to the early Greeks when it comes to not only Western Civilization, but our freedoms as well. While it is argued whether or not Greece actually invented democracy, it definitely had its first firm foothold in Greece. When thinking of the great philosophers of Greece, it would be hard to argue against Greece inventing democracy. In this blog, I’m going to detail a couple of things that the Greeks did that were solely responsible for what we take for granted now.

Not only did democracy really take form in Greece, but so did debate. The Greeks debated about everything out in public for every person’s eye to see. Many of the things they talked about are still very applicable today. Good philosophy is always good. Greece became a beacon to much of the world back then. If one wanted to be educated, they had to learn to speak Greek. Greek was almost a uniform language during biblical times. People knew their language of origin and Greek. Jesus took a great Greek term when talking to scribes and pharisees by calling them hypocrites. I love that word : ) It wasn’t just the Greek language people took from the Greeks back then, but how they went about their everyday life. The Greeks were very much into entertainment, so other nations took that from them. Theater was important to the Greeks. The wisdom and philosophy spread through the area from the Greeks. While the Greeks were inventing democracy, Western Europe was barely saying “orf”. Orf meant food by the way. Civilization as we know it came from Greece.

The biggest threat to our current way of life happened 2500 years ago. It wasn’t the terrorists, Nazis, or the Russians. It was the Persians led by Xerxes. They were about to take over all of Europe through Greece, using it as a gateway. The Spartans were cruel when raising their sons. Things we’d squirm at. Punishing them to make them the greatest warriors on Earth. Before turning your noses at their way, one should think what would have happened if they didn’t do such things. The Spartans would have failed to slow down Xerxes, giving the other Greek city-states time to be warned and unite. The Spartans might have even bowed at the foot of Xerxes instead of making their stand at Thermopylae if they were weak. No more heroic a tale has been told about ordinary men than the stand of the 300 Spartans in Thermopylae. If the Persians went through the Spartans, as their numbers would suggest they should have done, our way of life would look a lot different than it does now. Because of the Spartans and then the other Greek city-states, the Persians were so weakened that they eventually collapsed. The Greeks saved Western Civilization from becoming part of the Persian Empire. Western Europe at the time was disorganized and would have stood no chance against Xerxes and the Immortals. Things to think about.

When looking at what advantages we have today and the freedoms we take for granted, I can’t help but think back to what the Greeks did. Greece, we owe you so much. Thanks for our way of life.