Positive thinking
Kathimerini 21 October 2008

If we look at the Vatopedi affair through the prism of "positive thinking", this is not a scandal at all, but an act of providence: So many services, councils, real estate companies, ministries and other bodies coordinated their efforts, overcame the snarl of red tape and, without delay, granted one monastery what was rightfully its own.

Positive thinking also allows us to embrace the idea that the state had nothing more in mind than helping the monastery in its charitable work with its endowment (exchanging valuable property for a lagoon that belongs to no one is certainly an endowment).

We surely must know that the Vatopedi Monastery was aiming to create a place where the destitute of this world could find care and comfort, a place with orphanages, hospitals and poor houses.

And because positive thinking doesn't just make the world a bearable place, but downright pretty, we could also conclude that the loud controversy between the country's major parties over whether there should be a special investigation committee does not arise from any ulterior motives but from a true desire for catharsis.

Yes, we must accept that when our leaders tell us that they want the truth to shine through, they mean it, even if the light of truth may burn some high-ranking officials.

As suspicious as we may have become, we must remember that the ruling party did not come up with a plan to ensure that certain people got away, nor has the opposition set a time limit on how far back the investigation needs to go, so as to protect any of its own former ministers who may be involved.

Yes, the truth is driving them all, and this is what is behind the idea of moving Parliament to the main Athens court complex temporarily, so that it may have the entire file in its hands.