MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ORDER
Athens, 25-02-2006
Your Beatitude,
Chief,
Generals,
Officers,
Students of the Police Officers` School,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This ceremony to unveil the memorial of the perished police officers expresses a very concrete train of thought, in other words that no individual and no country may live without honoring their dead. No society may live and prosper without respect for the sacrifice of its heroes. We have erected this memorial as a mere token of gratitude, complying with a rule we have inherited from Pericles who had then stated that “one should honor in both words and in substance those who have excelled with their actions”.
I would like to thank the ones who adopted this initiative in the first place and I would also like to congratulate the architect and the sculptor for their inspiration. In continuation of what the Chief has said, let me also tell you, Your Beatitude, what I can perceive from this symbolism. I think that this work of art symbolizes the Police `protecting the city`. This is a modern, a contemporary sculptural composition depicting the city protected by the Police Agent of Ancient Athens and the `pretor urbanus` of Rome. The Police Officer presents to the society and to life itself the two-fold entity of peace and law, the latter being two communicating vessels providing social and national cohesion. Furthermore, one can also perceive while looking at this work of art, this high-rising dimension of pride which honors the ascending and wide open soul of the perished on duty police officer. Last but not least, one can also see the cap of the French Republic, an allusion in plastic arts. Congratulations once again for this concept and in particular, for knowing how to honor the sacrifice.
My last words, ladies and gentlemen, have to do with the definition of `duty`. Duty, as a Greek notion of `ethos`, is not a mere action of blind discipline. Duty is the product of the equation between honor and free will. This is what our civilization teaches us.
I would like to call all women and men of the Hellenic Police Force, both Officers and Agents to perceive this meaning of duty and realize that duty is the product of the equation between honor and free will. This is how our staff shall become superior Officers and Agents in terms of quality, so that we can all give to the society what we owe, in other words a sense of security, peace and order.
Thank you.
