I thought I should share this. William Saroyan's words on the Armenian people are a must-read whenever I'm feeling down:
“I should like to see any power in this world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people whose wars have been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard and whose prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy this race! Destroy Armenia! See if you can do it. Send them away from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then, see if they will not live again, see if they will not sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.”
Somewhere in me, I can say the same of Lebanon.
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14 comments:
Good idea Hassan: reminding us of these very powerful words.
hassan, very touching. nice.
It is extremly pressumptious of me to disgree with Mr.Saroyan, but disagree I must. Is he saying that a nation is a state of mind? And if so then for how long can it be kept alive?
ummmm, let's see:
The Greeks - 400 years
The Jews - 2000 years
The Kurds - since the beginning of time
Long enough for you?
All of a sudden I want to visit Armenia.
Nice words, but somewhat over- dramatic in comparing the Armenian holocaust to Lebanon?
I am not sure that many people would agree that the Kurdish example is a success story neither would many want the Zionist model. In this case one can regard the Greeks an exception rather than the rule:-):-)
I haven't heard of Saroyan before, thanks hassan for the great quotation.
you miss the point. just because you do not like israel and do not regard the kurds as a success is irrelevant. ghassan asked a simple question - how long can a people without a country keep alive their desire for a homeland? the reply indicates that this desire, regardless of its merit (which is entirely subjective), can remain alive for centuries. also, the examples quoted above are hardly comprehensive, so i don't think you can talks about exceptiosn to rules. you could add the armenians, the poles (at various points in history), the albanians, the assyrians, the sami, the basques, the chechens, the hmong, the tamils, the karen blah blah blah.
and that isn't even half: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stateless_ethnic_groups if u care to see a more comprehensive list.
Thank you. I am here. I live in Saroyan's place, California. I heard him read this. I am half-armenian. I sing and pray, life's good. I am here.
It didn't work.
The blogsosphere is pretty quiet these days.
Come on people, you have a duty to entertain us.
Beautiful, thank you for sharing.
Anon of 1:51pm, for entertainment, please follow closely Michel Aon's frantic moves to the left, right, and left again in his unwavering effort to become our next president.
FGA
Anon 1:51..
I agree. I want my money back.
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