WEALTH AND GOOD AND EVIL

 WEALTH AND GOOD AND EVIL

Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphictyon Socrates was asked when wealth is good and when is it bad? And he replied: "Just as you now consider it good for virtuous people to become rich. And in the hands of those who know how to use money, wealth is good, while in the hands of the wicked and the ignorant it is evil. And this rule, he said, applies in exactly the same way to all other things. That is, according to which of the people who handle things, their works are necessarily also." And I think he said that Archelaus' verse is apt: "And their minds are like their works" Observations: 1/ If our national benefactors had not become rich, Greece today would not have numerous institutions that they left as a legacy to our Nation (Universities, Libraries, Warships, Hospitals, Schools, Various Institutions, etc.) 2/ We should highlight the donations of poor people who donated ambulances to the National Health System, as well as expatriates who donate significant amounts to their respective homelands for various charitable purposes 3/ The greatness of Ioannis Bagas who donated all his wealth to his homeland and kept 300 drachmas for himself 4/ Ioannis Kapodistrias donated his salary to the then poor state. But King Otto and Queen Amalia also donated money from their estates even when they were in exile 5/ It would be an omission not to mention the greatest donors Aristotle Onassis and Yannis Latsis who adorn the homeland. 6/ Every year, a list of donors is published at the Ministry of National Defense in favor of National Defense and it is gratifying that the number of donors increases from year to year 6/ It has been proposed by many generals (I particularly mention the pioneer of the idea, General Nikolaos Naoum), diplomats and patriots to create a National Defense Fund that would equip the Defense Forces, without burdening taxpayers, with donations from Greeks and wealthy and bourgeois philhellenes everywhere, as a sign of love for Greece, which is threatened by Neo-Ottoman Turkey. However, no Government has implemented this national imperative so far, which, without burdening the people, benefits the Nation (5/5/25)