“The letter that the mother of Zak Kostopoulos sent to her child, on the occasion of his thirty-ninth birthday yesterday, shocked us,” says a statement by the municipal faction Open City, which reinstates the request to rename Gladstonos Street after Zak Kostopoulos.
The first proposal for the renaming of the street where Zak Kostopoulos was horribly murdered was submitted by Open City in 2019 without the majority of the Athens City Council under Kostas Bakoyannis accepting it.
“We restate our proposal, wanting to contribute so that the recognition of this collective trauma of the city is transformed into an inspiration for the struggles of today and the future, for a society of justice, without exclusions,” the announcement states.
The touching message of Zach’s mother
The mother of Zak Kostopoulos yesterday, Thursday, August 22, the child’s birthday, wrote him a touching text.
“G N E T H L I A
Today you would turn 39. Your friends would organize a surprise party to celebrate your birthday. It would probably take place on one of your favorite beaches in the place you grew up in Kirra/Itea. It would be after sunset, on the pebbles, overlooking the Corinthian.
When the cake appeared you would cry with joy and gratitude and feel the love of your friends embracing you. You have always been moved by human contact, honest feelings, giving and caring between people.
You would dance under the stars and your heart would overflow with happiness because you were alive, you had made it another year. You would put all your difficulties and pains to the back of your mind and keep the hope for the best unquenched. For more freedom, more rights, more life.
You know my child your physical presence is gone but you live in many ways among us. We feel you, we read you, we listen to you and we don’t forget what we experienced together, because as Maya Aggelou said, “People may not remember what you did or what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”
You were a gift in the lives of many people, especially those who suffered and are struggling to survive and fit in this unfair world. You were the hand that touched the dying, the mouth that spoke of kindness and acceptance, the pen that wrote and claimed, the smile that illuminated darkness, the look that radiated kindness and compassion.
People like you are never lost because they have left indelible marks behind them. They have taken root in eyes and hearts, they have become breath and blood, bread and water, seed and dew.
My child, the distance between us is bridged but love reaches everywhere. Till we meet again. Somewhere, somehow.
the mom”
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