At last judged adequately modern, Greece won the privilege of hosting the summer Olympic Games in 2004. Many analysts have pointed to the national deficit that Greece incurred in preparing for the Games—the economic soundness of which has since proved chimerical—as the beginning of a downward spiral resulting in an economic crisis that has left the country incapable of servicing its debts, sustaining the operations of its governmental sector, and maintaining its longstanding institutions of civic welfare. The flood of refugees that it has received in the past decade has further burdened its limited capacity to extend welfarist relief and support to its citizens. Critique from all fronts is the order of the day. On the one hand, we hear—not merely from foreigners—of a naughty Greece, which finally has to pay for its social, cultural, and fiscal sins. On the other, we follow in our newspapers and watch on our television screens a large segment of the Greek populace engaging in protest against the terms that it cannot but accept as conditions for remaining within the European Union. These protests have at times left key Greek city centers in flames—and on at least one occasion, in the flames of self-immolation. Literally and figuratively, Greece has been burned, and is burning. Life goes on even so.