Archive note: This text comes from the old archive of Nomika Epilekta and is preserved with care for historical and informational reading.

The desertion of the countryside and the villages, in mainland and island Greece, enlarged the populations of Athens, Thessaloniki and, secondarily, Patras and Heraklion in Crete.

Countless provincial residents abandoned their blessed places and most of them crowded into the capital, while the rest moved to the other large cities of the country.

The newcomer residents of the big cities abandoned, besides their villages, almost all the traditions, morals, customs and virtues of the province, with the exception of rudeness and aggressiveness, which they kept and carried to their new places of settlement. Thus the average resident of this country is distinguished by bad manners, rudeness and aggressiveness, because of which understanding among us becomes difficult, our peaceful communication is frustrated, many tourists are driven away, and Greece is discredited as a tourist destination.

One of the virtues that was abandoned is having children, usually more than two, who strengthened society, renewed the population and spread optimism, strength and hope for a better future and a happier life.

Because of both internal migration and women's desire for professional and financial "security", families stopped having children or were limited to one, usually spoiled, child, or at most two children, who are in a constant declared or undeclared war with each other, in continuous rivalry, conflicts and irreconcilable quarrels. Many of these children become irreconcilable enemies of society, arm themselves even with Kalashnikovs and claim what they believe they were deprived of, since they are not satisfied with their parents' offerings, which they consider minimal and insufficient.

Thus the population of the "native-born" is shrinking, while the number of immigrants from abroad is increasing, with whatever that entails, positive or negative.

A decisive blow to the large family was the so-called "economic crisis", as well as the burdening of the family budget with additional taxes and contributions, without provision for children, whom many now consider a burden and not a joy for the family.

The role of the mother has now been neutralized, because the woman is treated as a worker who must contribute financially to the family while simultaneously sustaining, through the taxes imposed on her, the voracious and incoherent state and the armies of sinecure holders and party drones.

Fewer and fewer women want to have a child, at most one and only one, and even they have difficulty becoming mothers because of many factors that contribute to their infertility. Thus "modern" women have difficulty becoming pregnant because they suffer from ovulation irregularities, damage to the fallopian tubes, uterine problems and other factors known to specialists and non-specialists alike.

Women's devotion to a "career" does not allow childbearing, and as the years pass the chances of conception and pregnancy are significantly reduced, because the quality and number of eggs decline, especially after the age limit of thirty years. Both the number and the quality of eggs "fall" significantly after 30, with the result that the much-desired conception comes with far greater difficulty.

Other negative factors for the desired pregnancy are found in smoking, the most foolish addiction, which damages the cervix, the ovaries, the fallopian tubes and the eggs. Likewise, alcohol abuse negatively affects ovulation, causing dysfunctions that end in the "death" of fertility. Even the abuse of coffee, which has now become almost a rule without exception, makes fertility more difficult, as happens with every abuse and excess that burdens the woman's body.

Thus we see that, slowly, the family withers as a structural element of a healthy society. The role of parents is downgraded, since without children there are no parents, and the joy of both motherhood and fatherhood is lost; above all, society ages rapidly, constantly acquiring defects, irregularities, rigidities and insurmountable problems.

And yet! Despite the difficulties, obstacles and adversities caused by internal migration, the desertion of the provinces, abuses, the pursuit of career also by women, and the insurmountable obstacles inserted by incapable politicians and various ignorant and half-educated people, mainly of the "progressive arc" of abnormality, the large family continues to be a beacon that can lead to an exit from the mire, decline and economic, social and political crisis.

Having many children, more than three, continues and will continue to be considered a means and lever of progress, development, optimism and health. A means of joy and hope.

The family with many children, regardless of the income class to which it belongs, gathers the respect of society and the awe of the decadent people of politics and administration. Parents with many children, despite the difficulties and often the apparently insurmountable obstacles they face in their daily struggle for survival and well-being, always achieve their goal and raise their children much better than the parents of one child or even two.

It is a common observation that from large families come many, perhaps most, prominent and successful people at all levels of social life.

In contrast to one-child families, families with many children enjoy, amid difficulties, joys that cannot be described. They live within renewal and face everyday life with more strength and with the powers of their members constantly renewed.

As the family gains a new member, it is simultaneously renewed, even if this renewal is not immediately perceived. Meanwhile, the older children participate with their own care in surrounding the younger ones, passing on to them their own experiences and supporting, with selflessness and love, the new shoots of the family, which grows and expands. And if the parents possess love and abilities, they can build a large, happy and successful family, which they will rejoice in and enjoy until deep old age, feeling the pleasure of creation.

According to one view, which I fully share, large families touch happiness more clearly and, in the end, conquer it, compared with shrunken families without children or with one single boy or girl.

The member of a large family lives and learns in the "we" and not in the "I". He becomes accustomed to sharing, cooperating, struggling as a team, supporting the weak, rejoicing in the progress of his siblings, and cultivating his being away from sick egotisms, injustices, arrogance and complexes.

The future of our country, whether it will be a future of happiness, progress and prosperity, bright and clear, or whether it will remain gloomy, stunted, in despair and sickness, depends on the having of many children, on large or many-child families, which we must support, praise, surround and, above all, respect. E. Papadakis