PAVLOS KONTIDES, Cyprus’ first-ever winner of an Olympic medal, was given a hero’s welcome on his return to the island on Thursday. He was greeted at the airport by the education minister and then attended a party in his honour at the Limassol Nautical Club, where he had learned to sail. On Friday he went to the presidential palace where he was honoured by President Christofias and then returned to Limassol for more celebrations.
It was nothing more than he deserved. Pavlos is only 22 and won a silver medal in the laser category, considered one of the hardest and most competitive. He is obviously a talented sportsman but he would never have achieved what he did without continuous hard work, self-discipline and total commitment to the pursuit of excellence. He asked nothing of the state, as is the custom in Cyprus, nor from the Cyprus Sports Federation KOA, but he did have the full backing and unwavering support of his family.
Pavlos is not only an Olympic hero but a shining example of what can be achieved through hard work, dedication and self-reliance. His example is all the more important in a country in which our youth have been encouraged to seek the easy and undemanding life of mediocrity. More than half of young adults, according to surveys, want a job in the public sector, the most uncreative, unchallenging and non-stimulating sector of the economy.
The main opposition to the extension of the retirement age has come from youth organisations, protesting that this would delay and therefore restrict the number of public sector jobs for the young. When the legislature was voting on reducing entry salaries for the public sector, youths gathered outside to protest against the measure. Teaching graduates, meanwhile, have demanded automatic employment by state schools as soon as they received their certificate.
It is true that employment in the public sector is extremely attractive, a point noted by one of the members of the visiting troika. Public employees enjoy near-absolute job security; they are guaranteed annual pay rises irrespective of their performance; salaries are significantly higher than the private sector for fewer working hours; they have free healthcare, and the pensions are scandalously high.
The downside, which seems of no concern to our youth, is that, in return for good pay and working conditions, they will spend their working lives doing unrewarding work and achieving nothing. It is an environment in which mediocrity is rewarded while excellence is punished, frowned upon or seen as a threat to the system. It is depressing that our education system produces youths with no drive, ambition and creativity, all of them clamouring for jobs as pen-pushers, paper-shufflers or teachers.
We often like to boast about the high proportion of university graduates we have, but what good is that if most of them seek a life of well-paid indolence in the public sector? It would be preferable to have fewer university graduates and more go-getter school leavers with an appetite for hard work and a willingness to take risks. This is the way to build a dynamic economy and create wealth.
Unfortunately this is easier said than done in a society in which unions have eliminated healthy competition, ensuring that the lazy and mediocre are as well-rewarded as the few who attain excellence. They have also helped eliminate the work ethic that was such a key feature of Cypriot society in the past. When unproductive and shoddy work is so well-rewarded, the value of hard work is automatically diminished.
Under the circumstances, it is a true paradox that a society which rewards mediocrity and indolence has accorded hero status to Pavlos Kontides, a youth who achieved success through hard work, self-belief and the single-minded pursuit of excellence. He succeeded because he did not embrace the values of most Cypriot youths who seem to labour under the illusion that they have the right to expect maximum reward for minimum effort.
Perhaps Pavlos’ success will spark a change of attitudes. Social conditions are ripe for change given the recession, record youth unemployment and the freeze on public sector appointments. With the safe and easy option of the public sector no longer available, youths could then discover the drive and ambition to try new things, take risks and innovate.
Surely anything must be better than making mediocrity a life choice.