I was at a neighbourhood supermarket today. As I have seen photos of supermarkets with empty shelves on the Internet, it is worth pointing out that this one was fully stocked; although it is also fair to say ours isn’t the neighbourhood where people would be the first to start panic-buying.
As always, there were many offers and they even tried to get me to subscribe to a customer loyalty card scheme. In many ways, even after the banking system has been closed for almost a week, life in Greece still continues to go on as normal.
The big question remains what will happen on Monday morning, when 45% of the country finds out that 55% has signed up for some tough measures that will affect everyone; or, when 45% finds out that 55% has put the country on a path that may lead to an exit from the euro zone — and possibly a much poorer standard of living.
And that’s what worries me most right now. There is a reason many thinkers (most notably that namesake of the current Greek prime minister Alexis de Tocqueville) have warned against the tyranny of the majority. Keeping the country united is going to be the biggest challenge for the foreseeable future. The good thing is that everything else will be easy compared to that.
Here’s to optimism.