The Sad Truth

This video is from YouTube. It was posted by “ANTV from Tulus”. In the video the man asks different people about Armenia and Azerbaijan to see if people know what they are. Many respond to Armenia as a country and people and the nationality of Charles Anznavour, the famous Armenian singer in France and they also respond by saying that the Armenians have suffered though Genocide. To Azerbaijan they are completely clueless. Many of you will cheer to the success of beating Azerbaijan in this video demonstration in which country is more known, however, that is not the case. Even though we Armenians won in popularity and being known more about in the video, we are still sadly unknown to Non-Armenian people and even more sadly to ourselves. Our people are known only though the tragic Genocide, people of importance or fame in the Medium or other notable areas or even the horrible racist or stereotypic statements like “Oh, so you are Armenian, you drive (a certain car) and live in Glendale, CA?” or “So Armenia is located in the Middle East, do you speak Arabic?”. This is due to ignorance not on only the part of non-Armenians but us Armenians. We must educate ourselves and then others of our identity. Many of you may say “I am American” and leave it at that. Or perhaps you are from another country such as England and say you are English. That would be incorrect. To be an American, does not satisfy the entire question. You are from California, your mother is originally from New York and your father is originally from Virginia, your grandparents may even both be from Virginia your other grandparents may both be from New York but at least their Grandparents are form outside the United States and if not there will be a point where that your family is from elsewhere unless you are Native American. Not even your friends who are “White” or “Black” are originally from the United States. The American Identity is very complex. What is the USA? The original Americans were of European decent or English, German, Irish, Scottish and so on. There are many people who do not fit these criteria that say they are American. How does that work out? The Americans who were of European decent did not consider themselves British or German or the others they considered the land they personally were born on their homeland. Then again there are people who become citizens and are not natural born citizens and still consider themselves to be Americans. Then in this case they believe in the American Ideology or like the lifestyle, condition, incentives, business opportunities of America or at minimum prefer it over where they came from. There are many ways to look at things. Incentive is a way to determine something. You add all the pros and cons and determine the answer according to which ever has the more pros. One may see which of the solutions is stronger, older and more befitting and answer the question. Now, however, we are talking about your identity, in other words who you are and where you come from. These methods may be used in determining you Identity. Since your last name may be something like Pogosian, Grigoryan, Tikranian or the like, you know that you are not simply American. Your roots go deeper than that and it is a crime to just cut them away and for some it is impossible. If a tree were to uproot itself the tree would not survive long and die. The same is for people. We too must take care of our roots so we grow to be healthier, happier, prouder, stronger, smarter and above all better people who contribute to society. Very few American inventors or well known, intelligent and respected people did what they did to bring glory to the United States. They all had personal incentives, gains and did it for personal glory for their personal name to be remembered let alone their family name or their country. They all acted as individuals cut away from their “brothers” and “sisters” if one American today can even consider another their “brother” or “sister”. If America is a wall then it uses “The American Ideology”: “diversity”, economy, military, technology, medium, “equality”, “freedom”, “opportunity”, “justice”, “independence” and “individualism” as mortar. To be Armenian is to be part of a culture that is thousands of years old and predates Assyria, Greece, Rome and Persia, to speak a language that is the mother tongue of The Indo-European Languages, A country whose people are the first civilized people and the spreaders of civilization, a people whose contributions to society and civilization are unmatched. People who are so brave that in ancient times they were as brave as lions but others only wished that they were as brave as them. People who others have tried to eliminate but are still here alive and striving. The Genocide continues the one that started on April 24, 1915. That Genocide was a “red” (blood/ murder) and “dark” (despair and destruction) Genocide, the one that progresses is a “white” Genocide because it does not involve forced removal, murder, rape, arson, destruction, etc. now this Genocide is one that destroys our roots, identity, history, culture and all that has to do with being Armenian. The enemies of the Armenians are still at large and still enemies they have not changed and it appears they never will.