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Life was harsh for me
very harsh from the beginning, in the little village in Greece.
We hardly had anything to eat because everything was
destroyed by WW2 and by the five years of civil war 
that followed.
  
By the age of ten, 
I had already lost my father and three siblings. 
The two little girls I saw died, and I narrowly escaped death myself,
after five months of battle against typhus. 
By fourteen, I lost my mother, and from the age of fifteen 
I lived alone.

For as long as I remember I was working,  
working and studying. 
The money was little, and the hours of work many. 
I was hungry and without shelter for long periods of time. 
I was bitten, laughed at, betrayed, and treated unjustly 
but
I never gave up my dream to be educated,
never stopped working harder and harder
never lost hope and most of all never lost my faith in God, who 
has adopted me after my parent's departure,
thus 
one day I immigrated to Canada, the country I owe 
my wellbeing.

I worked even harder over there 
and went through English and French-speaking universities till 
I got my BA, MA, and Ph.D. then started to teach, got married, 
and had children. 

I traveled around the world and have met people from 
all walks of life:
Evil men and saints
rich men and very poor ones
educated and uneducated
prominent and ordinary people.

I met presidents, prime ministers, patriarchs, mullahs 
and because of my humanitarian work, I met criminals, 
thieves, murderers, rapists.        

All these experiences have helped me accumulate a treasure of memories 
that makes me feel rich beyond measure.
A treasure from which I can withdraw large amounts each day,  
without ever my wealth being reduced to the least,
memories that certainly could last for many lifetimes! 

All this
because life was so harsh but also so rewarding in experiences and lessons.
I thank God for giving me the courage to overcome the many physical and emotional hurdles that I found on my way.
I thank him for His protection and for making me what I am today! *








© Demetrios Trifiatis
      04 July 2020

* This is my 2700th poem posted here. I thank all those who have supported me and all those who have fought against me, for the first gave me the courage to continue, and the latter gave me a reason to fight! ( Not for a contest!) 

** To all my American friends, I wish Happy fourth of July!
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