Yesterday, I spent the morning in the ancient agora here in Athens, then I had free time in the old city. We knew that protests were scheduled to happen, and we knew where they were scheduled to happen. So, at the beginning of free time, a few of us decided to go and see what the protests were like. However, we quickly realized as we approached Syntagma Square, that it was no a protest we were going to see, it was a riot. Two blocks away from the square, the atmosphere changed from a normal Euro-urban street to something I don't know how to describe. The first thing that I noticed was that almost everyone had what looked to be white face paint and some sort of gas mask on. The next thing I noticed as we approached the square was that the air smelled funny. Then my nose began to burn a little and my eye watered. Tear gas had more or less filled the air of the entire square. The next thing I noticed was the smoke billowing up at different points around the square. Seems as if people had decided that fire was a good way to protest. Then I saw the protesters. They all had decided that throwing things at the police would get the attention of the parliament. In the same way, the police had decided that tear gas was a good way to calm the crowd. Neither of these things helped. As I was watching all of these things going on, I could tell that one of the girls in the group that was there was a little skiddish and didn't want to be there anymore. Then a tear gas canister exploded across the square and she turned white and turned right around and almost ran away. That is when we decided to leave. We wandered for a bit, and eventually I hooked up with another group heading down to the riot. We can from the same direction, and this time, things looked worse. The police had formed a wall right near where I had been standing before. So I stood a little further back. The riot police were assembling in a building close by. Rioters had set fire to bag of garbage in the middle of the intersection I was at. Tear gas canisters went off again. This time, not right across the square, but 20 yards away. It seems that the police had thrown them into the crowd, and someone in the crowd had kicked it back at them. The girls again flitted about a block away. I stayed for a few more minutes with 3 of the other guys. It was at this point, that I began to talk to one of the protestors. He explained to me the situation. He and other nonviolent protestors didn't want this bill to pass in Parliament. He wanted the country to declare bankruptcy and just start anew. The bill was planned to be voted on on Wednesday. He told me that a bulk of the people protesting did not want violence, just to be heard. He also said that most of the people in the square were not part of the political activists, but that they were just anarchists. So the fight was between 3 groups. The Police vs. All Protestors, and Activists Vs. Anarchists. It seemed to be an interesting dynamic. After talking with him, more tear gas went off, and the police holding the line seemed to slowly moving backwards. And indeed, they were. So, the riot police assembled across the street from me, and began to move up to support the police. At this point, the crowd around us began to boo and I decided to remove my self from the area.
In a polar opposite day, Today we went to the Special Olympics. It was SO MUCH FUN! I saw several events, including power lifting, swimming, basketball, and volleyball. AMAZING! For the most part, the fans there were family members or close friends. So, being one of 50 college students walking around and cheering on the teams was a distinct privilege. The athletes seemed to love it almost as much as we did. The amazing emotion of the events was what impressed me the most. The passion and the hard work was obviously there on every single athletes face. The love for all and not just the love for their own, was on the faces of each of the fans. It was truly a pinnacle of human kindness. Almost heaven on earth. I am pretty sure that Jesus would support the special olympics.
These two days were incredibly insightful in terms of a Christian and Psychological aspect. In these two days, I have seen the depth of human fallenness, and the ability of humanity to love. People often use the problem of pain and suffering as an argument against God. They say that God cannot exist because of pain, and that if He does, they want nothing to do with Him. However, the problem in their thinking, is that they believe that man is inherently good. We have no sin nature, according to them. But, I believe that we do have a sin nature. And, I believe the thing that is more important is that we as humans are capable of loving on another, exactly like Jesus said. He wasn't just talking about abstract ideals. He was giving an actual picture of what it will take from us as humans to see the Kingdom of God. Imagine what else Jesus had in mind. Given your cloak away lately? Just a thought...
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