SOLIDARITY WITHOUT BORDERS
By His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of Australia
This column is obligated to deal with “weightier matters of the law” (Mth 23:23) as we had programmatically stressed from the outset. During the past year, it has addressed or censured only negative phenomena and situations, which always have a “weighty” impact on the general welfare of the people of God.
That does not mean however that we do not have a responsibility to praise and to equally project issues which edify and benefit the same people of God, for whom Christ pointed out those “weightier matters of the law”. In any event, it is not just the negative issues which are “weighty”. The positive also possess a “particular weight” of their own.
Today, therefore, we shall draw attention to a situation which, on the one hand is extraordinarily sad - since it relates to the serious illness of a 10-year-old boy of our community - whilst on the other it has provided for us an opportunity to observe moving expressions of support not only from members of our ethnicity and community, but also from fellow-citizens of other ethnic and religious traditions.
The matter concerns 10-year-old Stanley (Stamatis) Sklavos of Brisbane, elder of two children and son of the distinguished pharmacist Kosmas Sklavos, President of the Pharmaceutical Guild of Queensland and his wife Effie Sklavos, also a pharmacist. The child developed a very difficult form of leukemia and it was only natural that such a sudden illness would have caused alarm to the whole Sklavos family, so well-known and so loved by the Church and the community, especially in Brisbane.
In the opinion of the specialists, this case, despite its severity, had the fortuitous benefit that the younger sister of the ill boy possessed the compatible graft which could save little Stanley’s life. It was decided, therefore, that the family, accompanied by grandmother Nina, would travel to New York where a team of renowned doctors conducts such transplants successfully.
And whilst the young patient’s family - sufficiently prosperous through years of honest work - was prepared to outlay whatever expenses the treatment would entail, the community of Brisbane hastened spontaneously to organize a special function of friends in order to assist towards the enormous costs involved. Up to this point there is nothing exceptionally impressive.
After all, on a daily basis we see and hear of similar illnesses and similar gestures from relatives and friends. This is not unusual, especially in this blessed country of Australia.
However, that which caused the greatest astonishment and moved to tears every member of the extended Sklavos family was the generous response and magnanimous contribution to this function not only by the friends and colleagues of the child’s pharmacist parents, from both Christian and non-Christian backgrounds alike, but also by those of the other Sklavos brothers, all three of them doctors.
The function, by way of an evening Dinner, filled the Community Centre of St George in Brisbane to capacity and gave opportunity for many speakers to express their obvious concern and affection towards young Stanley.
In his speech, the former Minister, the Honourable Con Sciacca, wishing to comfort and encourage Stanley’s parents through his personal experience, shared with everyone the anxiety about his own child’s illness which has since fortunately been overcome.
One of Australia’s famous swimmers, Susan O’Neil, also spoke on the evening before an audio visual presentation on a large screen conveyed the support of the Australian team from Salt Lake City where they were participating in the Winter Olympic Games. It should be noted that the video was prepared exclusively for Stanley, expressing every wish for a speedy recovery. A representative of the Pharmaceutical Guild also spoke before the auctioneering of many valuable items such as autographed sports apparel etc.
There was also a comedian on hand who generated much laughter. It was in keeping with the atmosphere and purpose of the function, taking into consideration the view that humour is not simply a jocular disposition. It is rather a deep belief that, in the final analysis, whatever happens, behind the black clouds there is always light.
Stanley’s father, Kosmas, spoke last, overwhelmed and weeping like a young child. He conveyed his gratitude to all, and expressed his pride in the Greek community especially, for their loving support of Stanley. Presenters on the evening were the well-known Queensland media personalities Chris Bombolas and Georgina Lewis.
The comforting upshot of this whole painful story is that, even in such a worldly contemporary society of brazen competitiveness and unrestrained consumerism, moral values have not been entirely lost.
Human compassion (anthropia) and care are still to be found. It is comforting that those who work honestly and creatively, as all the members of the extended Sklavos family do, can always rely on “solidarity without borders”, exactly as they themselves always minister to human need with the same magnanimity, willingness and unselfishness, that is, “without borders”.
This Article was published in the Greek Australian newspaper
TO VEMASeptember 2002