Chapter 35: (v.2) Anarchism And The Call To Serve The Country!

Christos returned to Thessaloniki and joined the swimming classes again, and also went for coffee with some of his fellow students.

He had completely stopped playing computer games and only sat at the computer to type his dissertation, which progressed slowly but steadily. He believed that his computer addiction problem wouldn’t become an issue in the future.

His Agoraphobia almost completely vanished, and his fear of the unknown considerably diminished.

“How can I completely remove the fear of the unknown?” Christos asked the Teacher.

“Try to do new activities!” the Teacher replied.

So, Christos tried to attend other activities as well. He went to see theatre plays from time to time and he also attended a meeting of an amateur filmmaking club, since he liked movies. There he met many younger than him students, but there were some older than him.

One of them listened to the name Artemis and immediately caught Christos’ attention. That was because the traits he displayed to the outside world were the ones Christos wanted to attain: outgoing, communicative, humorous and mostly, he appeared to be very comfortable around women.

One time they went out to a club and Artemis started flirting with a girl he just met and then they left together.

“I must learn his secrets,” Christos thought.

On the other hand, Artemis appeared especially friendly with Christos and immediately accepted him in his group of friends, which consisted mostly of women.

They went out a few times, and although Artemis gave useful advice around flirting, Christos couldn’t flirt with any of the girls he met.

“I'm overwhelmed by my thesis!” he told the Teacher, “I have a lot of writing to do!”

“Or maybe you're just afraid!” the Teacher replied. “Remember what I've taught you: first try to familiarize yourself with her through physical contact, and then make your move!”

“I don’t know,” Christos said, “it is as if everything happens with lightning speed and when I start to feel comfortable with her, the girl has vanished!”

“You will learn to familiarize yourself easier with experience,” the Teacher said. “That is why it is important to meet a lot of people,” he added, “that way you learn to play more roles. And this is exactly what the two of us do, we play roles.”

Another time they went out with Artemis but again Christos failed to achieve his goal. On their next meeting with the Teacher, they talked more about Artemis:

“Artemis is very friendly with me,” he told the Teacher, “he has everything that I don’t have, ease with women, humor and great social skills!”

“You also have the ability to be like this Christos,” said the Teacher, “but with your ability comes fear as well.”

“And a lack of experience!”

“And a lack of experience, yes. But you are doing well Christos,” the Teacher said, “you have began to run!”

“I am still not flying. . .”

“This will come, if you persist a little bit more, everything will come!”

“I will have to see it to believe it,” Christos said. “I’ve began to be disappointed in the love part of my life!”

“And who said that love is something easy? Conquering the love part of life is much more difficult than conquering the social part. From the moment we conquer love, or maybe love conquers us, the social part loses the big significance we give it and we start to see things from a different angle!”

The Teacher went on, “Just to remind you, we have the social, love and work part in a person's life.”

“I remember that,” Christos said.

“For the social part, it seems to me that you have found a solution, more or less,” the Teacher said. “On the love area, it is now that you make real progress!”

“I think that I have put the work part in the refrigerator, of course,” Christos said.

“The crucial areas for you are the love and social parts,” the Teacher said, “I don’t fear you on the work part, you are capable on finding a solution!”

Christos switched topic, “What kind of person do you think Artemis is?”

“Tell me more about him. . .”

“He once told me a story,” Christos said, “a police officer entered a grill shop and at that time Artemis sat on his table, eating his souvlaki and pitta that he took out of his plastic bag that the waiter had prepared for him.”

“And then what happened?” the Teacher asked.

“The officer asked Artemis to show his receipt!(it is illegal in Greece not to have a receipt while carrying the product you bought)”

“And what did he do?”

“He searched inside his plastic bag and found it, but the receipt being on the bottom of the bag became covered with leftovers of tzatziki and olive oil. Artemis gave it to him anyway and the hand of the policeman became greased up!”

Christos went on, “Other times he speaks to me about the good things of anarchy. When I told him that I am a physicist, he told me that my profession rated 7 out of 10, and filmography was better, like 9 out of 10.”

“He only told you that?” the Teacher asked.

“And other things as well, but those made an impression on me. . .” Christos replied.

“Artemis appears to be a completely unstructured individual. You could say he is an anarchist, but not one of those who go to protests and destroy property.” He then said, “Also, from the story he told you, I can infer that he doesn’t get along with authorities. That’s why he can’t cooperate with his superiors and only works with those who are lower than him, at most equals.”

“Does he consider me an equal then?”

“He thinks of you as lower than him,” the Teacher replied, “since physics is 7 and film making is 9, that’s what he meant when said that, indirectly.”

That made Christos feel inferior and he became angry with the thought that someone that he hang out with, considered him to be so. He grabbed the arm of the wooden chair and tightened it, releasing his anger that way. Then, after calming down a bit, he changed the interpretation of the event, thinking that only through the eyes of Artemis he was inferior. Through his own eyes, he was an equal and that sufficed for him.

He then wondered if it would be good to continue hanging out with Artemis, because to be in the company with people that thought of him as a lesser person didn’t fit with his own self-image. But, remembering that he could learn more practical things from Artemis regarding how to attract girls, and as he was constantly a beacon for the opposite sex, having women always around him, there would definitely arise more opportunities for Christos to make a relationship. “Yet again it seems to me that I gain by being in his company. . .” he finally said to the Teacher.

“Yes, continue to be around him,” the Teacher stressed, “since you benefit from this you should keep doing it!”

“I wonder why I fit with him. . .”

“You are also an unstructured person, however you are only partially unstructured, Artemis is completely unstructured.”

“What does unstructured mean?” Christos asked.

“It means not to have a schedule in one's life, being chaotic, unstable.” The Teacher continued, “Usually the ideologist anarchists are characterized by their high intelligence, something that your friend Artemis obviously has, by the way you describe him. However, anarchism is a two sided coin, on the one side is anarchism and on the other is the authority. An anarchist does not believe in obeying the laws, because he himself is an authority!”

“This must be the reason that the anarchists always clash with policemen. . .” Christos agreed.

“Exactly!” the Teacher said.

“I now have another question,” Christos said.

“Spit it out,” the Teacher said in jovial tone.

“Artemis’ company lies in the category of people that group up to flirt with the opposite sex, right?”

“That is very correct!” the Teacher said happily. “You realize now that you conquered another section of the social part! So, keep it up, you are doing great!”

***

Upon returning home, Christos impatiently called Artemis on the phone so that they could plan their next night out, however he didn’t reply. Visiting the filmmaking club the next day, Christos learned that Artemis had left for a trip to America and that he would return after Easter, near the summer. That made Christos feel like we stepped into quick sand, almost sinking to depression. “I lost a good opportunity,” Christos said disappointed to the Teacher. “Where will I meet other girls now?”

“There will be others,” the Teacher said, “don’t give up!”

Nevertheless, the only thing that came was the Easter, in the middle of April together with relatively slow progression of the writing of his thesis.

One night, Christos saw a nightmare:

Being pursued by soldiers, he ran to hide but then one of them threw a spear that impaled and went through him, causing him unmeasurable pain from the inflicted wound.

Christos narrated his dream to the Teacher.

“Christos, you haven’t yet completed your military service, have you?” asked the Teacher.

“No,” Christos replied, “but I don’t worry so much this period as I have postponement for two more years!”

“It is however something that preoccupies you,” said the Teacher, “your dream had not only fear but also pain inside. Are you afraid of the army?”

“Everybody is afraid, more or less. . .”

“You, as usual, more!” the Teacher said.

Christos laughed with those words.

“Don’t worry,” the Teacher said, “the army is not something terrible!”

“Only that it derails you from your real goals!”

“You can reset your goals when you finish with the army.”

“At that time I might not be in the mood to do anything else!”

“So, you will just pour your brain on the floor? Come on Christos, even university professors do their military service and continue their research when they finish!”

That reassured Christos a little bit, and so being calmer, we went on with his work on the dissertation. Then Easter finally arrived and Christos travelled to Aleksandroupoli.

Receiving a warm welcome from his parents, Christos thought that maybe they had come to accept the fact that he would follow his own path towards self-discovery. They didn’t say much in the beginning, but after a three-day lapse, Iulia broke the ice:

“Christos, can you come over here?” she said in a soft tone.

“Yes, in a moment,” Christos replied and wondered suspiciously, “What does she want from me?”

His mother reached to her pocket, removed a parcel at the size of her palm and gave it to Christos.

Christos opened it with curiosity and inside he found an amount of money, much larger than what Petros gave him to spend the month in Thessaloniki. That surprised him.

“What is this?” he asked Iulia.

“That is a gift for you!” said Iulia smiling.

Fearing that the money would instantly disappear from his hands if he asked the reason she gave them to him, Christos sufficed to a 'Thank you!'

“But why did they make a gift to me?” Christos later asked the Teacher.

“I did play my part,” the Teacher said, “I told your parents that as a young person that you are, you have many needs, such as to go out and have a bit more fun!”

“Well, what can I say, even though we are friends and you’ve told me there is no need for thanking, I’ll say it anyway: Thank you!”

These days, his father worked a lot in his office and asked Christos for help who, being in a good mood from their gift, accepted to do so. It seemed that father and son worked together well.

While they were working together, the female client expressed her admiration for Petros’ profession. “Why don’t you do the same job as your father?” the woman asked Christos.

Before Christos could even open his mouth to tell the woman that he wanted to follow his own path regarding the work he would do, Petros spoke for him, “It’s never too late!”

That resulted in Christos becoming blocked and furious. He still needed to be involved in a discipline superior than that of his father, and he decoded Petros’ words like this, “what you do now is not worth it!”

Later, on the family table, Christos unleashed his anger on his father, asking him why he talked instead of him and said what he said. He didn’t know what his father's reaction would be, but he didn’t care.

Petros became terrified by Christos’ threatening attitude and Iulia, being present, always intervened blaming Christos for his behaviour, saying, “Is that the way to treat your father? Shameful”!

“To hell with both of you!” shouted Christos, slamming his fist on the table, and left the house heading towards the center of Aleksandroupoli. There he called the Teacher to tell him the event.

“I see the fights in your house continue,” said the Teacher.

“Did I do well for getting angry?” Christos asked.

“Yes, because now you are even with your father!”

“For what thing? When?” Christos asked curious.

“Have you forgotten what happened last summer? When your father slammed his fists on the desk of his office? It seems you held a grudge for him in the end!”

“Now that you put like that, I think you are right!”

Then the Teacher added, “Of course Iulia as always, intervenes and messes things up! And that is a reason you can’t get along well with Michali, she never allowed you to solve your differences alone!”

“What should I do now?” Christos asked.

“You will return home, as you normally do.”

“And what if they want to continue the fight?” asked Christos a bit frightened.

“I don’t believe it is to their best interest,” the Teacher said, “to argue with an angry Christos!”

When he returned home, Christos realized that the Teacher was right, because Petros and Iulia not only didn’t continue quarrelling, but they spoke to him as if nothing happened!

That event made Christos angry again, and he headed to the forest once more to let off steam. After crashing many rotten branches on boulders, he called the Teacher and said shouting, “We almost got ourselves killed on the table before and now like magic, everything is fine! How is this possible?”

“This is the story for most families,” the Teacher said, “something happens and then it is buried. Like a pond that has the water clean on the surface but its bottom is full of garbage! With the work that we do, we disturb the waters and the dirt becomes visible!”

“Isn’t it possible for some family members to become sad?” asked Christos whose rage turned to guilt, due to his previous improper behavior.

“They should have been more careful with what they said then!” stressed the Teacher.

Those words made Christos feel more relaxed and agreed on their validity. Since he still had anger inside, it would be good to continue letting it out until he emptied and became healthier psychologically.

Just before Easter vacations ended, Christos visited Aleksandroupolis’ army recruitment center to ask some questions he had regarding his postponement, since he wasn’t exactly sure when it ended. The thought of the army scared him, but he saw it as a necessary evil.

“If you end your postponement now,” the recruiter stressed, “you will enter in the army on August, unless you get another postponement due to Ph.D candidacy!”

Christos thought that after he finished with his thesis he would graduate before August and since he didn’t want any more studies for the moment, maybe the army would help him mature regarding what he would do for a living.

“I’ll cut the postponement,” Christos said unwillingly. “Great,” he thought later, “my dream proved to be an omen!”