by Christos Zabounis

We have observed this in our daily lives, sometimes we have been protagonists too. We are late, for example, for a rendezvous and indulge in a multitude of scenarios, about traffic, family situations, health issues, and the list is long and goes on and on. A traffic policeman stops us for a confirmed violation and we invent a “cart” of explanations. Wasted time. It is better to be wrong than to justify yourself, the elders used to say. I am following the Tempi case as a citizen and as a relative of the victim. Neither my first cousin, who lost his 27-year-old son, nor I myself participate in the collective body created by Maria Karystianou, a pediatrician by profession. The reason? Our mourning is silent. This does not prevent us from wanting to know the truth about what really happened on February 28, 2023, near the settlement of Evangelismos in Tempi, Larissa, when the Intercity passenger train 62 collided with the commercial train 63503, resulting in the deaths of 57 and the injury of 85 passengers. Almost two years later, we hear excuses. “What is the biggest book in the world?”, Winston Churchill was once asked. He then replied: “The book of excuses.”