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William Planes, the writer of Platanides: Through The Eye of the Storm has lived a very hardworking life. The book’s author is the first generation born in the house of a Genocide survivor in Asia Minor. His family survived the Genocide of Greeks and American Christians by Kamal Ataturk in September 1922. Since his parents were followers of their Greek orthodox faith, they raised and nourished William under the teachings and guidance of their religion.
The author was born in New York, USA, and was raised in Folly Beach, South Carolina, and Coral Gables, Florida. He got his graduation completed from Coral Gables High School and Florida State University. After graduating, he started serving in the US Navy. He left the US Navy after some years and then engaged himself in the business of acquiring troubled companies and then selling the companies after their restructuring. He earned a lot of profit from restructuring the companies and selling them. He spent most of his profit from business activities for the welfare of society by doing good work for them. He also invested the profit in helping the good work of his faith and Christian beliefs.
During the times of the Covid-19 pandemic, William Planes used to stay at home, but there was a question that kept him restless. He used to wonder and ask if his children, cousins, and siblings understood the greatness of freedom in the USA. He used to question that did they understand how fragile the existence of these freedoms is. Do they know the lives and families that have sacrificed themselves just to preserve and save the release of the country if they knew what his father and other thousands of people went through to allow them and all of the citizens to openly practice their religion and live their lives according to the teachings of Orthodox Christian Faith?
His book:
Platanides: Through the Eye of the Storm
Platanides: Through The Eye of The Storm was published in March 2022. This book tells us about a boy who had a tough life, difficult and rare experiences and but was still willing to keep following the Christian faith. This young boy was born in Asia Minor during the year of 1908.
The book tells us how he and his family planned and managed to escape the oppression and Genocide of Armenian Christians and Greeks, which was ordered by Kamal Ataturk and started on September 13, 1922. It also tells us about the hardships they faced as refugees during the Genocide and how the events of this oppression and World War ll affected the lives of the people and their descendants living on the Island of Crete, situated in Greece. Finally, the author tells us about the life of his father during the Genocide and the author’s relationship with his father.
The author tries to open our eyes by telling the horrendous experiences of the boy (author’s father) and his son (author) during the war and how it affected their life, how it strengthened their faith in the religion and how it developed them as strong characters. All the hardships and troubles of the oppression helped them to understand to move through the storms of life no matter how strong it is and to emerge from the storm as a vital member of the society and be strongly devoted and committed to their faith in religion. There is a sharp comparison of the life of people who have lived their lives under the Genocide of Kamal Ataturk, who was trying to eliminate and erase Christianity forever, and the people who lived under the oppression of Nazis and Gestapo tyranny. The lives that we live in the constitutions of the USA where we are guaranteed total freedom to follow the religion, live according to our own culture, freedom of choice, and many other things provided by the government and jurisdiction. William tried to warn the future generations of the USA to never overlook or forget the heavy price that elders and soldiers paid for freedom. He said that if space is ignored by the future generations of the United States of America, suppression and Genocide might return to our beautiful country again.
Since Genocide exists in multiple parts of the world even today, he told us that ignoring the importance of freedom can haunt back in the same way our forefathers saw and lived their lives miserably under oppression. Remembering that we have freedom of speech, freedom to follow our religion, and our traditions and culture is very important, and it is indeed a huge blessing from God. All this freedom was ensured by the sacrifices of our elders and ancestors, and we should thank them for their fights to provide a better future for the next generations.
