Bill Gates invests in Greece!

The reader Tsigantes recently made a reference to 'a small town near Veria in northern Greece which backed the vision of its trained librarian and has produced probably the most educative, much loved and inspiring library in Europe!' So I became curious and started to google.

Out came the Veria Central Public Libary. Now that may not be the library which Tsigantes referred to because it is in Veria and not near it, but it is nevertheless a learning experience to look at their website.

Up in the right-hand-corner of the homepage, it says that the library was the '2010 Access to Learning Award' recipient. Not all that exciting news because there are so many awards being given these days that one more of them for a library in Veria isn't necessarily breaking news. But I did check what this 'Access to Learning Award' was all about. And...

I landed on the homepage of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Now, I may not be all that familiar with Veria but I have heard of Bill and Melinda Gates before. And here I read in the press release that 'a Greek libary receives a USD 1 million international award for embracing technology and creating a vibrant community asset'. There is even a very nice video about the library.

That piece of information took a while to settle with me. I mean, we have now seen for almost 3 years an unparalleled undressing of a nation/society, coming up with every piece of dirty laundry that one can imagine. Presumably, even the natives of a most remote island on the other side of the globe have heard by now that there is absolutely nothing positive to be said about Greece. And now this?!?

I googled a bit more to check what kind of headlines this award had prompted in the Greek media. Regrettably, I am a poor Google searcher which is probably the reason why I couldn't find any.

Now let's get this straight. Here is a foundation which isn't exactly like any other foundation in the world. Presumably, only the most qualified projects attract the attention of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. And here is a Greek project which did attract the attention of this foundation. A project about the blue skies of Greece? About the blue waters of Greece? About the ancient treasures of Greece? About the hospitality of Greeks? About any other Greek stereotypes?

No! A project about 'embracing technology and creating a vibrant community asset' instead!

Ever since the Euro-crisis erupted, the term 'contagion' has made the rounds. Meant by that was the risk that the crisis of one country could spread to another country, and so forth. The classic domino effect.

There is another kind of contagion, namely the contagion of negative information. Everyone knows the question whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. Imagine a situation where there are 70% negatives and 30% positives. If you only talk about the negatives, the 70% will gradually move towards 100%. But if you talked more about the positives, the 70% might even retreat.

I trust I have made my point.