General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
We live in an age of irrationality. Or, to put it another way, parallel reality systems.
On a political level, on the one hand, we have President Trump, who fails to accept the harsh reality that he lost the election – despite all the facts to the contrary. And on the other hand, we have Biden staffing his government that will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.
On the subject of health, the number of Coronavirus cases and victims are both setting a record every day. The U.S. pandemic map has turned red. We are paying for the delights of the Thanksgiving holiday, when for the first time in nine months millions of Americans traveled. However, we also live with the hope of the vaccine. There is no other salvation.
These two parallel worlds will one day merge, or rather, one will give way to the other.
In the political case, we can see past the horizon. Trump will leave and Biden will stay.
The case of the pandemic, however, will continue to be overshadowed by uncertainty and doubt.
Man is accustomed to living with anxieties in his daily life. But today’s anxieties are more intense than the previous ones – and, unfortunately, they will last much longer.
We have been anxious to find a vaccine. Thankfully, this is becoming a reality. Right now there are only a few large companies that have produced a vaccine – but more will follow.
Presently, we are anxious about the distribution of the vaccines and who will get priority.
If all goes well – as it seems to be going – the Pfizer vaccine will be approved by the FDA by Sunday. Within 24 hours of that, 6.4 million doses will be distributed to the 50 states and the Washington, DC area.
These are enough to cover 1% of the population – a double inoculation is required. At that point, then, a battle will be fought. Who will be the first to get the vaccine? It makes sense for those who are on the front lines, doctors, nursing staff, etc. to be the first.
What about the rest of us, those who need it now? What about vulnerable groups, such as the elderly?
The majority will be covered, experts tell us, by spring or summer. The summer? And what about the other countries?
Wealthy countries like America, Australia, Canada, Japan and those in the European Union have already reserved nine billion doses (the Moderna vaccine also requires a double dose).
They are keeping enough doses to vaccinate their population many times over.
At some point, they will dispose of their unneeded doses, after first taking care of their own populations.
Then they will sell them to poor countries.
One of the great lessons of the Coronavirus is that all lives are equal. The virus does not distinguish between white and non-white victims. Between the rich and the poor. Men and women.
But the pandemic was not able to teach us that life is fair. And since the Coronavirus could not teach us that, I am afraid nothing ever will.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
CLOSTER, NJ – The well-attended Greek Independence Day Celebration in Closter, NJ, took place on March 25, beginning with the Flag Raising Ceremony at Ruckman Park in Closter.
ALBANY – New York State Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R, C-Staten Island/Brooklyn) on March 26 was joined in Albany by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to recognize Greek Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the illegal Turkish invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus.
ATHENS - Historic member of PASOK and passionate advocate of the recognition of Pontian Greek genocide Michalis Charalambidis died on Wednesday aged 73.
ATHENS - While the New Democracy government denied audio files from the 2023 head-on train crash in Tempe which killed 57 had been tampered with, five managers at the state-run OSE railways agency reportedly had access to them.
FAIRVIEW, NJ – The Greek Cypriots of New Jersey under the auspices of the Federation of Cypriot American Organizations, the Consulate General of the Republic of Cyprus in New York and Consul General of Cyprus Michalis Firillas will commemorate the 69th Anniversary of the EOKA Liberation Struggle of Cyprus from British Colonial Rule 1955-1959, with a memorial service at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 101 Anderson Avenue in Fairview, NJ, on Sunday, March 31.