Dear Ms. Katsageorgi,

I read your interview with Mr. Dracopoulos that was published in the October 8th issue of The National Herald and had more questions than answers. I do agree with Mr. Dracopoulos that the Hellenic language is one of the most important heritage factors but not just because it is an integral part of the Greek experience. The Hellenic language is important because it is the mother for at least most of the European languages.

It can be said that the English language, for the most part, is misunderstood, mis-duplicated, and mispronounced Greek. The word English comes from Anglo-Saxons. The English were the Saxons who landed at the angona (the angle) of the island. The country next to them was very stormy as the Greek ships hit the Atlantic so they named it the land of Iris. Iris being the Greek word for stormy. Scotland is the land of ‘scotia’. ‘Skotous’ being the Greek word for dark. Europe=Eu-rope=good flows and so on and so forth (4th Edition Webster’s Dictionary).

The Indo-European language is a myth. How do I prove it? Easy. Study ‘Indo-European’ for a few years and tell me if you become more enlightened about any of those ‘Indo-European’ roots the dictionaries claim. But if you study Ancient Greek for a few years then all those ‘IndoEuropean roots” will astonishingly make sense to you. Also, due to its original roots the Greek words have the history of the world in them.

I can say more about the above as I have written books about it but for now I will stick to my thoughts on your article. If Mr. Dracopoulos is so concerned for our kids to preserve our language and he has all these resources, what stops him from making it a reality? He claims that some church will not take an endowment of $25 million? Who? When? Why? And who cares?

If I had $25 million to donate toward the Greek language, I would not give it to any church but I would establish an organization that supports the Hellenic language and establish an endowment fund for it donating million by million while I go around the country asking for matching funds. When I make it $50 million (double it) I would invest it in the S&P 500 and give 5% each by mandate (5% of $50 million is $2.5 million) to the Greek schools around the country who produce Greek speaking students as determined by standardized tests.

This seed money will be there forever to support majorly at least 10 schools around the country: especially if you asked for matching funds of the $2.5 million donation each year!

But, at the beginning of the interview, you mentioned that the Niarchos foundation has a budget of $750 million. Is this per year or overall? Where is it spent on? I can’t think of a more important help to Hellenism than to put all this money in an endowment fund for the Greek schools for the entire diaspora around the world. With matching funds this can turn into $1 billion or more instead of $50 million. That would be an incredible boost to Hellenism worldwide. It would be a transformative event.

If I had access to these funds that’s what I would do hands down.

I am not criticizing anyone. I am just reading, observing, and asking questions.

I appreciate you allowing me to express my thoughts and do look forward to any feedback you may have. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Alexander Alemis

Chicago, IL