ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚO ΠΡΩΤΟΤΥΠΟ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙ

EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis).  Growing up in a poor neighborhood of Piraeus, Greece, and assisting a multi-technically inclined father since the age of eight, fixing plumbing and gutters and oil heaters and practically everything else that needed fixing in our town, it was not long before I learned what a “Greek patent” was.  It meant that when we came across a problem that needed to be fixed and were at some impasse, we just did not restrict ourselves to the “standard” fixes or the materials we could buy at a hardware store.  It meant that we used our brains, tools, and any material around us to solve the problem. Needless to say, “giving up” or postponing something for tomorrow was never an option.

I soon realized that most other young men (and women to some extent) around me had the same attitude.  And so it was a spectacle to watch all of us acting as a group in the neighborhood and fixing our bikes or setting up an impromptu soccer field or basketball court, using primitive materials and mainly …our imagination.  Our forefathers had already given the name of our “attitude”: They called it the “Greek Patent.”  We were supposed to find a “Greek Patent” to solve any problem…

I later thought that thousands of years of navigation were the primary source of this cultural trait: When you are in the middle of the ocean, and something breaks on your boat, you don’t wait until you reach port; you don’t have this luxury in most cases.  You have to solve the problem immediately.

Manolis Kottakis, the editor of Estia, the oldest and most trusted newspaper in Athens, explains this admirable phenomenon in this excellent short piece.  He forgets to give it the name it already has: “Greek Patent.” Please pay special attention to the two examples he offers. These examples will answer your natural question: “It’s not only you, the Greeks – all people have this ability.”  Yes, my friends, all people do. But in situations like this, the real question is, “To what degree?”  Can all people fix the design problems of advanced submarines such as the ones described below by Kottakis?

The issue is significant and central to our ethnic identity; this first analysis is certainly not enough to describe precisely what we mean by “Greek Patent.”  We will have to return. I am asking all of you to submit your personal experiences and perspectives.

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source – estia/newsbreak.gr

“Greek Patent”: We Weren’t Born Smart, Circumstances Made Us!!

We are a people educated by History. Other people would have torn their countries apart if they had lost 30% of their peacetime GDP (as we did after 2010).

By Manolis Kottakis

This 62% of the survey by “About People” Co. on behalf of “Eteron” made a strong impression, according to which we Greeks are proud of our intelligence and, consequently, have a high self-esteem index as a nation. It made an impression because it is not a view that dominates the electorate’s right and extremes, but permeates the entire electorate. And the Center and the Left and the Right. Everyone.

At first reading, I even detected a numbness in certain circles, as for many this point of view means latent chauvinism, if not heavy nationalism. Which is usually not detected in large doses in our country. In my opinion, this is a wrong analysis of the poll result.

In this case, we are dealing with the historical recording of a reality. No, we Greeks were not born more intelligent than other peoples. We were not born with better DNA than other people. We do not believe in our racial superiority compared to other people. And, in any case, we are not the “chosen people”, as we sometimes proudly say smugly, accompanied by anecdotes/jokes that during the distribution of the world, God gave us the plot of land that he had kept for his old age. So no, we weren’t born better. But we got better. Circumstances have pushed us to improve, even if we don’t always use this intelligence for good. And we became better because, with a history of yokes, occupations, civil wars, divisions, conflicts, mutilations, and wars of liberation, we were trained to find solutions in the worst possible conditions. We have learned to burn and be reborn from our ashes. We were educated with the idea that we live in a place where nothing is final and done. Well, we shouldn’t be complacent.

I will give an example from recent times, the first that comes to mind. About twenty years ago, the Germans handed us submarines that we bought with an obvious flaw: they tilted, they tilted when sailing. The political leaders of the Ministry of Defense were reluctant to receive them officially. However, a group of distinguished Greek scientists in our Navy found the solution. It not only eliminated the problem of tilting and stability, but also made them energy self-sufficient so that they could charge their batteries on the bottom and not be required to surface for refueling. The result of this invention, about which the manufacturing company kept its mouth open, was to make our submarines the fear and terror of the Turkish navy in the crisis of “Oruch Reis” – two years ago. It could feel them in its ribs.

I will tell you one more example. Greek doctors who immigrated abroad are in demand. Why are they in demand? Because of their (obligatory) service in rural areas in Greece, during which they were called to face most of the incidents alone, without help at the end of nowhere, they were trained to provide solutions in adverse conditions. Solutions even with their imagination. This is how they became the versatile tools of the English and German Health systems, apart from being considered the best company in the shift, because they have emotional intelligence. And you can exchange a couple of conversations with them. These doctors in some cities in Germany did not hesitate to submit a group resignation from their well-paid jobs when, in the heart of the “Memorandums” (during the Financial Crisis), they experienced fierce bullying by their colleagues due to the country’s bankruptcy. In addition to intelligence, they also possessed sense.

The so-called “nationalism” and so-called chauvinism are not something natural, then. We are not born with it. Confidence and intelligence were nurtured by circumstance. We are a people educated by History. If they had lost 30% of their peacetime GDP, other people would have torn their countries apart. But we, who lived yokes, occupations, persecutions, refugees, civil wars, and mutilations, know well – there is a living memory – what it means to have your country torn down. Besides these, let us never forget that we studied a culture and a religion where the logic of “black and white” does not dominate. Things were never perfect in our country. Our philosophy often favored the intermediate third solution as well. For what my opinion is worth, let us not be ashamed of an intelligence acquired in the field. We were not gifted with this intelligence. We worked to touch it, and sometimes, it is worth recognizing it ourselves, even if this is done completely randomly, in a poll.

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