During a boiling hot afternoon, somewhere in June 2019, I was back in the city of unexpected beauty. Walking around Kallimarmaro, minutes after the sunset, I decided to sit down and allow my eyes to enjoy the pleasing view, for a brief moment of happiness. “Athens has always had something more to show me every time I go out to explore. Something to teach me, and something to make me nostalgic about”, I thought with a feeling of anticipation. And at that moment I saw these six young boys.

I stared for a minute or two. “Do you remember those years?”, I said to myself. “When you carried this beautiful, unique, childish brain, full of simple thoughts, said in kind words, and expressed in vibrant feelings? When joy was found around almost every corner you looked? When stress was a word you didn’t know how to spell? And even if you did, you wouldn’t have known what it meant, because it was a world you still hadn’t been introduced to. And even if they told you, it would mean so little, compared to how you’ve defined it – or how it has defined you – today”. I looked away with a sense of guilt, hoping that the stream of thoughts which this peaceful scene had triggered in my mind, would head to a different direction, leaving my conscious mind alone˙ at least for the rest of the boiling hot afternoon.