Who were we really and who was our own Andreas, I asked myself countless times, before I engaged with the depiction of my thoughts and the measurement of live contact with the events and experiences I encountered throughout the journey, watching the dramatic political course of that man. This is exactly what I am trying to portray on this paper, without claiming the title or role of the historian, as such a thing would be too heavy for my own shoulders and dimensions.
It is true that much has been said and written about his life, journey, contribution, work, and end. However, whatever was written and said about him was done by people who knew him when he was dominant, when he reigned, enthroned at the peak of his prime and power, and could gain or expect something. But Andreas was not only the person they knew and spoke or wrote about. He did not only walk on wide and flower-lined boulevards. He also passed through swamps. He traversed traps, minefields, and thorny paths. He walked on narrow, treacherous, uphill, and difficult paths, most of the time alone, with his main assistant, companion, and supporter being his family and a handful of faithful and dedicated people who set aside everything, did not weigh careers and costs and consequences, and stood by his side to share with him the difficulties, the bitterness, the disappointments, but also the joys, the surges, the invaluable experiences that were abundant in his political life.
In these writings, my friend, reader, you will not find revelations of "state secrets" or "gossipy rumors". You will find the genuine Andreas, as I experienced and describe him, hoping that I contribute to the revelation of the personality of that man who was the expression of the sorrows and desires of the Greek people.