Arcadia, My Arcadia
St. Basil's Publishers
P.O. Box 1155, Deerfield, IL 60015

I know Angelos Vlahos quite intimately, down to the missing hobnails of his only pair of shoes. He was my soul brother. The forces that drove him were mine too. They were the physical and emotional hungers, those two uninvited guests who had settled in our life as though they intended to stay forever. His world was to a large extent my environment as a country boy growing up in the years of Greece's Civil War and the Cold War that followed. Like Angelos I, too, lived in the dusty poverty of Arcadia's countryside and walked barefoot through endless, dog-guarded goat-paths and mule-tracks to reach our farm plot or go to school. I, too, remember how important for our well-being the amount of rainfall was in a growing season, and how destitute my family and I felt witnessing long droughts desiccate our farm plots.

Like Angelos and his generation I, too, went to bed invaded by the fears of Russian planes descending upon the land and heart-broken by the desolate night cries of young children left fatherless by an assassin's night bullet. I, too, was nursed on the legends of my ancestors and stories of the glory that was Greece. I, too, was inculcated with courage and perseverance as I listened to white-haired men in the small village kafenion, that great depository of folk wisdom, tell awe-inspiring stories of valor of war heroes. My people's folk

Yet, my book is not the tale of my life. Neither is it simply the story of Angelos Vlahos or the thousands of boys and girls of my generation who struggled to survive against all odds in a harsh post-war world, with few choices open to them. It is much more than that. Change Angelos' name to Antonia, Oliver, Malachy, Frank, Jacob, Jose, Juanita, Maria, and the story becomes, I think, the legend of every poor young man and woman who, not discouraged by the privations of their lives, strive with determination to find their niche in the world. It is the account of the human spirit trying to assert itself. If you find threads from your own life in Arcadia, My Arcadia, I would like to hear from you.

The message of my story is clear: Do you want to become a delinquent or do you like to make something of yourself? If you wish to succeed in this world, follow your star. Obey, listen, emulate good role models. (Thank God if there are still some good ones left in your world and, like Angelos Vlahos, call yourself lucky!) Nurse noble aspirations. Have faith in yourself. Apply discipline in everything you undertake. Work hard. Never give in to adversity. You can do it!

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