P resident ’ s M essa g e
A Centennial Celebration for the Ages
D
ear Members and Friends,
If you did not already know about the history
of the people of Crete’s several hundred years’
fight for freedom and its union with Greece, then
by now you have either read about it or attended
celebration events. This message is not to recount
the battles but to have us think about how we are
going to preserve our culture and heritage, which
we all feel is worth saving for the next generation.
John Sargetis
After all the celebrations are over, what are our
PAA President
roles going to be to pass down what thousands
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fought and died for? None of us were there to take
up the battle, to face the oppression, to not know
day by day whether we would survive to the next
day. Every one of us, not just the Cretans, but all
Hellenes, owe where we are today to the plight
those brave people endured generation after generation for hundreds of years.
In 400 years, they never lost their faith, language or traditions in the face of oppression. They
never gave in or gave up. The four Martyrs of
Rethymnon were beheaded rather than convert.
Over these hundreds of years, the priests and
mothers would secretly teach the children our
Orthodox faith, language and traditions.
For over 400 years, they didn’t lose it. Now, at
the 100 year mark, we still have a fight on our
hands but not with guns and not against an
identifiable enemy. Yes, we are still reminded every day when we hear those roaring jet fighter
planes over our island that there are those who
would like to make territorial claims to our
Crete. I believe the bigger enemy is apathy; and
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KPHTH | NOVEMBER 2013
to counter and fight that, we have to be proactive to maintain our religion and traditions. We
can’t take anything for granted. We shouldn’t
assume that because we came from Crete or our
parents are from there that automatically our
children growing up in the United States will
maintain what we have in our hearts. Already,
after 100 years, we can look around and see
many people with a Greek-sounding last name
who are out of touch with their religion and
culture, and all they know is that one of their
ancestors was from Greece. To me, that is truly
sad. That’s what the Pancretan Association and
the Cretan chapters around the country are all
about. Yes, they are for us a way to experience
our culture, traditions and music, but more importantly, they serve as a vehicle to pass our
history and heritage down to the next generation. It all starts in the home, but after that, it’s
the local clubs and the Pancretan and its programs that hopefully keeps in the minds of our
children and instills in them what it means to
be a Hellene and, particularly, what it means to
be a descendant of those who fought and died
for us. We celebrate today, but it’s in our hands
if there is going to be a 150 year celebration.
With our vibrant Pancretan youth, I am confident and have every reason to believe many
generations will follow to celebrate future milestones in Crete’s history and that everything
we strive for will not end with us. K
Sincerely,
John Sargetis