It's been nearly a year since the infamous Haircut on bank deposits, and despite it being a hard and depressing time for the island and for the majority of individuals, it has certainly gone by fast.
At the time, I couldn't imagine what the state of the island would be like a year down the line and my head was filled with thoughts of Armageddon-type scenarios, especially in the period where everyone was panic withdrawing their money, and some places wouldn't accept credit cards.
One friend and her husband started growing their own food in a bid to become self sufficient as he had convinced her that people would be fighting in the streets for food as the crisis deepened. I have to admit, I stocked up on torches, batteries, matches and tinned food!
But what really surprised me is the lack of riots… although I am not sure if this is a positive or negative aspect of us as a society.
On the one hand, some might say that our lack of rioting and outrage is a sign of apathy, weakness and laziness. They would argue that in other countries all over the world, the people have risen up and displayed their unwillingness to accept the decisions that the powers that be have made on their behalf. They would probably be disgusted that we appear to have sat back and allowed ourselves to be used and abused.
But on the other hand, this shows that we are a nation with dignity who know that to start taking to the streets, setting them alight and looting, whilst attacking the police, would only do us more harm than good. You only have to look at the state of the countries that have taken to this method to see that it only makes things worse and prolongs the country's decline – sometimes indefinitely. That is not to say there haven't been protests and strikes, but there hasn't been any of the ugliness seen in other countries. Those on this side of the fence could further argue that the people of Cyprus – of all nationalities – did something far more powerful and impacting; they rallied around and supported one another.
In a previous column, I spoke about the real sense of community that the island has, and how people are showing compassion and generosity to those who are suffering the most. Even those who don't have much are giving to those who have even less, and I am so proud of my island for reacting in this way of love and humanity, instead of raining destruction and violence on its towns to demonstrate the pain and strain we are under. With this attitude, the island is going to bounce back far quicker than those who wrote us off have predicted.
It was never going to be easy or painless and at times the injustice and conditions that prevail make me want to scream. The weight of the sacrifices that so many are making seems insurmountable.
But when it all feels like too much, I try and think how things will be in yet another year's time, and I know in my heart that the way we chose to handle the situation will be a credit to us all.
First appeared in the Cyprus Weekly, 01/03/14
