notes

[Guest arabaliozian]

ILLUSIONSAs a boy, Mahari idolized Armenian writers. In his memoirs he writes that once, when on a visit to Tiflis he found himself walking close behind Shirvanzadeh and Aharonian, he overheard them speaking not about the massacres in the Ottoman Empire or the deplorable conditions of Armenian orphans, but about women and sex..FROM JULES RENARD’S JOURNALAutumn: caramelized landscapes.*Pig. A potato with ears.*Breakfast with the music of wasps.*Voluptuous – her way of shutting a drawer with her behind.*Some liars have such an irresistible urge to lie that one ends up helping them out of pity.*If you want my respect, keep your distance.*Old age: After each sentence I add: "If I live long enough.".THE UNSPEAKABLE IN THE PURSUIT OF THE UNEATABLEIn the Ottoman Empire and Soviet Armenia we had enemies. Real enemies. "Hyenas who were not after our grapes but our carcass" (Hrant Matevossian). Who is an Armenian’s worst enemy in the Diaspora today? Other Armenians. And what are they after? They don't know it themselves. Moral: If an Armenian does not have an enemy, he will invent one..AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLEI have myself been identified as an enemy. My crime? A refusal to recycle a certain brand of crapola.RAT RACEBeing Armenian is not a cooperative but a competitive business, and the competition is stiff. Which is why most Armenians embrace assimilation. They find being odar less demanding..MEN OR SHEEP?No one trusts the judgment of someone who blames all his problems on others. Because in doing so we confess to being not masters of our own destiny but extensions of alien interests and wills. In other words, we admit to being not men but sheep..TURKSExpose the Turk in an Armenian and make a bloodthirsty enemy for life; and the more phony his patriotism, the more ferocious the Turk that resides in his heart.ARMENIAN WISDOM+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Anonymous: "Patience is a tough tree that bears sweet fruit."*Avedik Issahakian: "The rich reap the fruit, the poor pluck the thorn."* Hagop Baronian: "Shamelessness: A crossroads that will take you anywhere."* Yeghia Demirjibashian: "Ethics: Thou shalt not have two homes and two faces."* Karekin Nejdeh: "When dealing with foreign powers and issues, our press adopts a permissive, forgiving, and subservient tone. With our own internal problems, however, it becomes arrogant, vindictive, vicious."* Vahram Papazian: "The greater your worth the greater the pleasure of the worthless to tear you down."* Anonymous: "Little men take pleasure in inflating little things to big things."*Gostan Zarian: "It has been observed that persecuted minorities tend to cling to second-hand verities and to consider material possessions as the greatest boon."* Yeznik Palik: "Church: a shop that sells soap for sins."* Vahram Papazian: "To be indifferent to crime is to conspire with criminals."* Anonymous: "The avaricious person is tormented by greed for more and by fear of less."* Karekin Nejdeh: "If it does not spring from a creative impulse, criticism in and of itself is meaningless."* Gostan Zarian: "It has been the destiny of all great men to be belittled by little men."Wednesday, September 11, 2002*********************************Those who speak of American militarism, imperialism, terrorism or extremism should be reminded that the assassination of a single obscure prince in the Balkans started World War I to which we Armenians contributed a million and a half victims.*Anti-Semitism after World War II and terrorism after September 11 ceased to be political weapons and became psychological aberrations.*There is a natural tendency in all of us to forget that we are small potatoes, and small to the point of being invisible; and the louder we raise our voices the lower we sink.*Friends are luxuries; the ability to do without them a blessing from above.____