“She’s 13” refers to my previous post: “Greek Gypsy love“.
Yes, she’s 13. And? I respect your opinion because from what I know you are or were the best kinna New York cop who understands that his position entails a fair amount of social work along with the criminology and justice and every other kind of training you had to go through or exercise on the job. But what should we think or think we should do exactly? Have someone from some city or government agency intrude on this society and find a way to separate them? Nobody forced them, so it wasn’t any kind of semi-pimping by their parents or dowry-greed; in fact, what they did was an expression of free will that — to some extent — disregarded and stood up to the strictures of their culture’s elders. They just wanted to sleep in the same bed.
I have to explain this a lot, but the generations in my family are long, if you know what I mean. Both my parents were last or only children, and both my parents were in their early forties when they had me. All four of my grandparents were born Ottoman subjects. I was raised, then, with a much greater intimacy and familiarity — even if second-hand — with pre-WWII Balkan rural life than most Greeks or Greek-Americans my age, 55, would understand. Late teens or early 20s was considered prime age for marriage, and for my father’s clan in Albania still is. Late 20s was already over the hill.
Romeo and Juliet were roughly the same age, 15 and 13, when they found love and the only reason that turned out badly is older people’s morality. Are these kids doing something wrong? Or are we just too cynical to think that our first love should be our only love, or maybe just too molly-coddled to take on the responsibility of marriage and children till we’re 35 and then run around panicked, trying to have kids at 40-something?
And as opposed to inner-city urban teenagers in America, this girl obviously lives in a society where she’ll have an extensive matriarchal support system to help her with having and raising children.
I have to admit it was a little weird to have this broadcast on Greek TV. But what’s the problem exactly?
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Comment: nikobakos@gmail.com
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Jadde: from Bosnia to Bengal 
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