We really have a lot of work to do

Sako Gekchyan 

Sako is my young friend. I met him on Facebook. He graciously accepted my asking him to have me among his friends. He is wise beyond his years and articulate. Early this year he lived in Armenia for six months and has returned home. The attached is his recent posting on his Facebook page. He authorized me to post it in my blog. I thought of sharing it on this momentous occasion,  the second anniversary of the halting of the disastrous 44-Day Artsakh war. 

Sako, on August 14, 2018: 
 This is a picture my dad took of me when
 we were riding in the car a few months before he died

 

Living in Armenia for six months and preparing to move there has really put things into perspective for me. 

I’ve noticed problems with both Diaspora Armenians and Armenians in Armenia. 

From the diaspora, I have noticed the problem of armchair warriors. People want Armenia to take the maximalist position from a place of comfort. They want Armenia to put genocide recognition for example, as a condition for any kind of dialogue with the Turkish state. They want Armenia to adopt territorial claims of western Armenia as part of its foreign policy strategy. But I don’t see a lot of these tough guys in California in large numbers, picking up guns and coming to Armenia to fight. It’s easy to be a patriot when your children aren’t the ones dying. Of all the rhetoric I hear about us diaspora Armenians, being spewed in Turkish Azerbaijani media, at least on this point they are partly correct. Don’t advocate a position you aren’t willing to defend yourself.

So now, my problem with Armenians in Armenia… 

I feel that in many cases they lack perspective. They complain about the lack of work when I have all too often seen many of them refuse to do jobs that they consider below them. There was one restaurant in Yerevan that was willing to pay people $20 a day Just to wash dishes. Even people in the United States don’t get paid that much just to wash dishes. Instead of working to improve conditions in Armenia, they would rather flee and make their home in a foreign land. It broke my heart to see so many lazy and apathetic people. When I told them that I am moving here from California, instead of saying, “Bravo! It’s good to see more young people like you coming back to their homeland! at least half of them would say “Are you crazy? What are you doing? Wasting your time here? Go back to California. You’re giving up your comfort for this? I would love to get the hell out of here and go to California.” Sometimes it took every ounce of my willpower not to say “Deh siktir gna! Go ahead! We don’t need you here, anyway!“

We really have a lot of work to do. I think some long soul-searching is necessary for our people. This soul-searching might take some years. It will take time before we are mature enough to even attempt to be the Israel of the Caucasus.