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THE POINT OF REBELLION
http://asbarez.com/107316/the-point-of-rebellion/
Monday, December 24th, 2012
BY MARIA TITIZIAN
The Christmas tree in our capital city~Rs Republic Square is lit,
holiday decorations are up, traffic is congested, people are buying
presents, mothers are frantically preparing traditional dishes for
their holiday table and children are looking forward to presents
and their winter break from school. Some are leaving for faraway
destinations in search of some warmth and recreation, others are
struggling to heat their homes and find creative ways to make sure
Christmas time is memorable for their families.
As 2012 draws to a close, it should be a time to reflect on the past
year, the small victories and tiny steps toward grace, and those
moments when our knees buckled under the weight of dishonor. We did
have moments of pride, like when our men~Rs chess team brought home
the title of World Chess Olympiads, when the epic David of Sassun
was included in UNESCO~Rs Intangible Cultural Heritage List, when
we hosted Junior Eurovision without any major glitches, when Yerevan
was a flurry of activity as UNESCO~Rs 2012 World Book Capital.
And then there were those moments that brought disgrace to our
collective narrative: the parliamentary elections in May, which
saw an unprecedented rise in voter bribes and intimidation and
which firmly placed Armenia on the path to authoritarianism; the
brutal murder of an army doctor, Vahe Avetyan at the restaurant
complex Harsnaqar, owned by renowned oligarch Ruben Hayrapetyan;
trumped up charges against Vartan Oskanyan for money laundering,
which led to the removal of his parliamentary immunity in order to
be charged; the abject failure of our foreign ministry to realize
that the extradition of Ramil Safarov by Hungary was imminent and to
have worked diligently to ensure that an ax-murderer of an Armenian
officer on European soil would not be set free before serving the
entirety of his sentence; the alarming rise in poverty and the
continuing exodus of Armenians from the country; the disgraceful
behavior by elected and appointed officials on a regular basis
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=geNJzTg0aao)
The collective dream of a brave new homeland has been fleeting;
it is slowly being eroded with every misstep and every wrong turn.
A passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez~Rs ~SOne Hundred Years of
Solitude,~T which had been lodged in the recesses of my memory for
quite some time, suddenly revealed itself with astounding clarity
today.
It reads: ~SUrsula wondered if it was not preferable to lie down once
and for all in her grave and let them throw the earth over her, and
she asked God, without fear, if he really believed that people were
made of iron in order to bear so many troubles and mortifications;
and asking over and over she was stirring up her own confusion and
she felt irrepressible desires to let herself go and scamper about
like a foreigner and allow herself at last an instant of rebellion,
that instant yearned for so many times and so many times postponed,
putting her resignation aside and shitting on everything once and
for all and drawing out of her heart the infinite stacks of bad words
that she had been forced to swallow over a century of conformity.~T
I can~Rt recall the number of times I have read these lines, feeling
an instant affinity with Ursula and her irrepressible desire to rebel.
Although those who know me well also know that I don~Rt have a problem
expressing my opinion nor do I refrain from using the occasional
swear word. But this passage, I have come to realize has nothing
to do with me. As I read it once again today, parallels revealed
themselves between Ursula~Rs struggle to keep her family intact,
to seek redemption for all the sins her sons had committed and
Armenia~Rs struggle for life and survival. Like Ursula, Armenia has
borne so many troubles and mortifications. Where Ursula is the moral
conscience of her family as she struggles to rein in her descendents
from ruin, Armenia is the mother seeking to redeem the waywardness
of her children.
Just as Ursula takes on multiple roles to sustain her family,
I think the time has come that the women of this nation, find the
inner strength, courage and fortitude to take upon themselves the
multiple national roles of not only mother and educator, but activist,
equal partner and leader. As women, we should no longer postpone that
yearning for redemption and grace; we should allow ourselves that
last instant of rebellion in order to help reset our national compass,
our path and place on this earth.
As 2012 winds down, we are faced yet again with the promise of
political turmoil and uncertainty, struggling to grasp the last
straws of hope. As we hurl our collective selves toward a new year,
and as a new cosmic alignment is shaping, we are left hoping that we
too will undergo a positive physical and spiritual transformation,
the beginning of a new era, instead of desperately trying to leave
our mark in the sand as the waves come crashing to the shore, washing
away our futile attempts.
Perhaps as we enter the New Year or the 14th Mayan Baktun, the many
strong and resilient women of mother Armenia will themselves undergo
a positive spiritual and collective transformation. And instead
of simply uttering the infinite stacks of bad words that we have
been forced to swallow, we must rise up to the challenge, not only
determine that point of rebellion, but help map out a strategy to
lead the way towards renewal, honor and redemption not only for the
homeland but for, and in the name of, all our children.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://asbarez.com/107316/the-point-of-rebellion/
Monday, December 24th, 2012
BY MARIA TITIZIAN
The Christmas tree in our capital city~Rs Republic Square is lit,
holiday decorations are up, traffic is congested, people are buying
presents, mothers are frantically preparing traditional dishes for
their holiday table and children are looking forward to presents
and their winter break from school. Some are leaving for faraway
destinations in search of some warmth and recreation, others are
struggling to heat their homes and find creative ways to make sure
Christmas time is memorable for their families.
As 2012 draws to a close, it should be a time to reflect on the past
year, the small victories and tiny steps toward grace, and those
moments when our knees buckled under the weight of dishonor. We did
have moments of pride, like when our men~Rs chess team brought home
the title of World Chess Olympiads, when the epic David of Sassun
was included in UNESCO~Rs Intangible Cultural Heritage List, when
we hosted Junior Eurovision without any major glitches, when Yerevan
was a flurry of activity as UNESCO~Rs 2012 World Book Capital.
And then there were those moments that brought disgrace to our
collective narrative: the parliamentary elections in May, which
saw an unprecedented rise in voter bribes and intimidation and
which firmly placed Armenia on the path to authoritarianism; the
brutal murder of an army doctor, Vahe Avetyan at the restaurant
complex Harsnaqar, owned by renowned oligarch Ruben Hayrapetyan;
trumped up charges against Vartan Oskanyan for money laundering,
which led to the removal of his parliamentary immunity in order to
be charged; the abject failure of our foreign ministry to realize
that the extradition of Ramil Safarov by Hungary was imminent and to
have worked diligently to ensure that an ax-murderer of an Armenian
officer on European soil would not be set free before serving the
entirety of his sentence; the alarming rise in poverty and the
continuing exodus of Armenians from the country; the disgraceful
behavior by elected and appointed officials on a regular basis
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=geNJzTg0aao)
The collective dream of a brave new homeland has been fleeting;
it is slowly being eroded with every misstep and every wrong turn.
A passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez~Rs ~SOne Hundred Years of
Solitude,~T which had been lodged in the recesses of my memory for
quite some time, suddenly revealed itself with astounding clarity
today.
It reads: ~SUrsula wondered if it was not preferable to lie down once
and for all in her grave and let them throw the earth over her, and
she asked God, without fear, if he really believed that people were
made of iron in order to bear so many troubles and mortifications;
and asking over and over she was stirring up her own confusion and
she felt irrepressible desires to let herself go and scamper about
like a foreigner and allow herself at last an instant of rebellion,
that instant yearned for so many times and so many times postponed,
putting her resignation aside and shitting on everything once and
for all and drawing out of her heart the infinite stacks of bad words
that she had been forced to swallow over a century of conformity.~T
I can~Rt recall the number of times I have read these lines, feeling
an instant affinity with Ursula and her irrepressible desire to rebel.
Although those who know me well also know that I don~Rt have a problem
expressing my opinion nor do I refrain from using the occasional
swear word. But this passage, I have come to realize has nothing
to do with me. As I read it once again today, parallels revealed
themselves between Ursula~Rs struggle to keep her family intact,
to seek redemption for all the sins her sons had committed and
Armenia~Rs struggle for life and survival. Like Ursula, Armenia has
borne so many troubles and mortifications. Where Ursula is the moral
conscience of her family as she struggles to rein in her descendents
from ruin, Armenia is the mother seeking to redeem the waywardness
of her children.
Just as Ursula takes on multiple roles to sustain her family,
I think the time has come that the women of this nation, find the
inner strength, courage and fortitude to take upon themselves the
multiple national roles of not only mother and educator, but activist,
equal partner and leader. As women, we should no longer postpone that
yearning for redemption and grace; we should allow ourselves that
last instant of rebellion in order to help reset our national compass,
our path and place on this earth.
As 2012 winds down, we are faced yet again with the promise of
political turmoil and uncertainty, struggling to grasp the last
straws of hope. As we hurl our collective selves toward a new year,
and as a new cosmic alignment is shaping, we are left hoping that we
too will undergo a positive physical and spiritual transformation,
the beginning of a new era, instead of desperately trying to leave
our mark in the sand as the waves come crashing to the shore, washing
away our futile attempts.
Perhaps as we enter the New Year or the 14th Mayan Baktun, the many
strong and resilient women of mother Armenia will themselves undergo
a positive spiritual and collective transformation. And instead
of simply uttering the infinite stacks of bad words that we have
been forced to swallow, we must rise up to the challenge, not only
determine that point of rebellion, but help map out a strategy to
lead the way towards renewal, honor and redemption not only for the
homeland but for, and in the name of, all our children.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress