A man walks past closed shops in the center of the Greek city of Thessaloniki on June 21. Aug. 20 marks the end of Greece's third consecutive rescue program since 2010 and, in a way, the formal end of the Greek crisis.
Like many English words, "crisis" has a Greek origin — the word "krisis," which in its initial form meant "a decisive moment." It is an ironic twist of fate that during the past decade the word has become so intimately linked to the country where it first originated. In recent years, any discussion about Greece has demanded acknowledgement of the deep financial, economic, political and social crisis that has afflicted the country since the late 2000s. And that makes Aug. 20 a bittersweet day, as it marks the end of Greece's third consecutive rescue program since 2010 and, in a way, the formal end of the Greek crisis . It took eight years, more than 300 billion euros in international loans and six prime ministers for Greece to reach this moment. Now the two biggest questions are: Was it worth it? And is Greece really out of the woods?
