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Glendale News Press, CA
April 11 2015
Editorial: Sacrifice in the name of awareness
As the spring municipal election season comes to a close -- with
Glendale's voting having taken place last Tuesday and Burbank's
ballots due by April 14 -- the next important date on local calendars
is April 24, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian
Genocide. Numerous events to mark this centennial year of the
atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 have already taken
place or are in the works throughout the greater Los Angeles area,
from photo exhibits to blood drives; from church services to vigils.
Marches and rallies are planned, and on Sunday, April 26 Glendale's
Alex Theatre will be the venue for the Armenian Genocide Commemorative
Event.
All of the above are group activities designed so we may jointly
remember the 1.5 million victims of the genocide, as well as those who
survived but were displaced. The various event organizers have gone to
great pains to give this solemn anniversary its due consideration. But
one man, Agasi Vartanyan, is doing an extraordinary solo feat to
commemorate the Armenians who died those many years ago -- he's
conducting a 55-day fast. Vartanyan, who is 55, conducted a similar,
50-day fast 10 years ago. Nothing in the intervening decade has
managed to convince, once and for all, the highest office in our
country to push for the Republic of Turkey's full acknowledgment of
the crime.
And so, Vartanyan is marking his days in a glass enclosure on Glenoaks
Boulevard in Burbank, outside St. Leon Cathedral, with nothing but
water and his faith to sustain him until his fast concludes. He hopes
his solitary sacrifice will help raise awareness about the genocide
among those who pass by his perch, which was built with help from the
nonprofit Crimes Against Humanity Never Again.
It's a powerful personal statement and an example to all of us who
would do well to imagine how much we might be willing to sacrifice so
that atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide are recognized and that
perpetrators of such actions are held accountable.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/tn-blr-me-editorial-sacrifice-in-the-name-of-awareness-20150410,0,652932.story
April 11 2015
Editorial: Sacrifice in the name of awareness
As the spring municipal election season comes to a close -- with
Glendale's voting having taken place last Tuesday and Burbank's
ballots due by April 14 -- the next important date on local calendars
is April 24, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian
Genocide. Numerous events to mark this centennial year of the
atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 have already taken
place or are in the works throughout the greater Los Angeles area,
from photo exhibits to blood drives; from church services to vigils.
Marches and rallies are planned, and on Sunday, April 26 Glendale's
Alex Theatre will be the venue for the Armenian Genocide Commemorative
Event.
All of the above are group activities designed so we may jointly
remember the 1.5 million victims of the genocide, as well as those who
survived but were displaced. The various event organizers have gone to
great pains to give this solemn anniversary its due consideration. But
one man, Agasi Vartanyan, is doing an extraordinary solo feat to
commemorate the Armenians who died those many years ago -- he's
conducting a 55-day fast. Vartanyan, who is 55, conducted a similar,
50-day fast 10 years ago. Nothing in the intervening decade has
managed to convince, once and for all, the highest office in our
country to push for the Republic of Turkey's full acknowledgment of
the crime.
And so, Vartanyan is marking his days in a glass enclosure on Glenoaks
Boulevard in Burbank, outside St. Leon Cathedral, with nothing but
water and his faith to sustain him until his fast concludes. He hopes
his solitary sacrifice will help raise awareness about the genocide
among those who pass by his perch, which was built with help from the
nonprofit Crimes Against Humanity Never Again.
It's a powerful personal statement and an example to all of us who
would do well to imagine how much we might be willing to sacrifice so
that atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide are recognized and that
perpetrators of such actions are held accountable.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/tn-blr-me-editorial-sacrifice-in-the-name-of-awareness-20150410,0,652932.story