notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

BOOKS
*****************
In a book of interviews with writers,
the question that is asked to all of them is:
“What were your favorite books as a child?”
My answer: I didn’t have any
because we didn’t have any books.
I was three years old when World War II erupted
during which both our house and Father’s store
went up in smoke.
To say we lost everything would be an overstatement
because we didn’t have much to begin with.
As for books: I remember only
one dilapidated elementary school anthology
edited by Anonymous because the cover
and the first pages were missing.
*
MESSAGE
************************
Military defeat and individual failure
are God’s way of informing us
we may be on the wrong path.
*
CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA
*************************************
As a child I was told
when they asked Napoleon to identify
the happiest day in his life, he replied:
“The day I took my first communion.”
If he said that it may have been because
he wanted to legitimize and encourage
subservience to authority
or he needed the support
of the Catholic Church.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

SEMIRAMIS SPEAKS
***********************************
Once upon a time I worked with a floozy
who was fond of quoting lines with double meanings.
Some samples follow:
*
“What goes up must come down.”
*
“It only hurts for a little while.”
*
“A gentleman is one who places half of his weight
on his elbows.”
*
“If you tell me how you got it,
I will tell you how to get out.”
*
PATRIOTISM: TWO DEFINITIONS
************************************************
“A willingness to kill and die
in defense of your country.”
*
“Any collective enterprise
that generates income for the leadership.”
*
TRUTH: A POLITICAL DEFINITION
********************************************
“A convincing lie.”
*
SITUATION / xxxxUATION
*************************************
Even as they tie the rope around our necks,
they brag about our genius for survival.
*
PERSIAN PROVERB
*******************************
“It is better to be in chains with friends
than in a garden with strangers.”
*
CHINESE SAYING
*******************************
“The great man is a public misfortune.”
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

I'm sorry Ara for becoming angry with you. I should have made my point without the anger.
Does anything I said make sense to you?

an old chinesse saying: "he who loses temper has wrong on his side."

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

whenever i criticize armenians i am accused ot being pro-turkish. mart bidi ch'ellank!

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

OBSERVATIONS
************************************
All spoken assertions contain their silent contradictions.
We, as a nation (make it, collection of tribes)
appear to have mastered the art
of silencing and ignoring these contradictions.
Hence the spectacle of a smart Armenian
delivering lines worthy of an inbred moron.
*
God save me from the Armenian semi-celebrity
who believes s/he deserves universal adoration.
*
I lost quite a few jobs
because I could not hide my contempt
for my superiors.
It took me many years to realize
that I have, what is known as,
a transparent face that can be read
like an open book.
If you too have such a face,
consider yourself cursed by fate,
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

WRITING
***************************
My life has been an uninterrupted succession
of blunders beginning with the one that said,
unlike other Armenian writers –
from Abovian (who committed suicide)
to Zarian (who died with the unshakeable conviction
that he had been murdered –
I will have better luck with my readers.
*
Whenever I write a remotely readable line
and I am tempted to be pleased with myself,
I remember the words of the gentle reader
who said: “You aren’t worth a piece of xxxx, Baliozoglu!”
*
There is a difference between autobiography
and autobiographical. Autobiographical
means based on one’s life;
autobiography means covering up or misrepresenting
a long list of blunders and deceptions.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

WHAT I BELIEVE
**************************************************
I believe God is not who we think He is,
and when we speak in His name, we lie.
I believe with Socrates that “of the gods we know nothing.”
I believe with Gandhi that God is Truth
provided we agree that none of us knows the truth
or is in a position to grasp all of Reality,
only a fraction of it.
I believe the Bible is not “the word of God,”
but a search for truth, which is endless.
I believe with Tolstoy that “the Kingdom of God”
is within us and to look for it in heaven
or anywhere else is a waste of time.
I believe to speak of God as if He were not the Unknown
and the Unknowable is to try to make comprehensible
that which is incomprehensible
by bringing it down to our own level.
I believe when Popes, Imams, and capitalists speak
in the name of their conception of God
it is impossible to tell to what extent
they identify God with their own power
and I believe power corrupts everything it touches.
I also believe with Socrates, Christ, and Tolstoy
that poverty is the surest proof of honesty.
#

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

I'm sorry Ara for becoming angry with you. I should have made my point without the anger.
Does anything I said make sense to you?

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

ON CORRUPTION
*********************************
Whenever the subject of corruption comes up,
someone is sure to pipe in:
�There is corruption everywhere.�
The implication being,
to speak of corruption in Armenia
is to tarnish our image in the eyes of the world.
*
Nothing pleases the corrupt more than to be told
there is nothing wrong or remotely questionable
in what you are doing.
*
If someone you love is raped or murdered
would you even consider saying,
rape and murder are as old as mankind?
*
Who justifies criminal conduct?
Only criminals.
*
To say there is corruption everywhere
is to imply to speak of honesty and justice
might as well be anti-Armenian and unpatriotic .
#

------ whenever the subject of corruption ... The implication being ... -----


On this forum, many Armenian contributors speak out with great contempt and disgust for the corrupt element in Armenia. We highlight it and speak out as to it's source and it's debilitating effects.
When you say ... Someone is sure to pipe in and say corruption is everywhere etc, you have taken that out of context.
It is when specific contributors speak of corruption in Armenia, as if every poor farmer and ordinary citizen is corrupt, or implies that this corruption is exclusively unique to Armenia.
The piping in as you discribe is a false depiction, as if every time corruption in Armenia is mentioned that (ALL!!!) Armenians as a knee jerk reaction point the finger at everyone else and say they do it to.
That is not the case and you have misrepresented the Armenian people's as a whole!!!
Can you pull up one (1) post to back up your claim? Just one!!!

When you accuse Armenians of not wanting to speak of honesty & justice (BECAUSE) it is being anti Armenian, you have greatly and grossly twisted the conversations of corruption on this forum to further your point.
You use the word Armenians as if they all were corrupt and conniving.
Pull up one post to prove your point.
That is a turc ploy and not an Armenian conduct.
I know you rarely respond to the accusations of your misrepresentations of the entire Armenian community, but rather two or three posts later sneak in more of this utter crap.
Pull up a post or can this crap.

When people on this forum point out that no one has figured out how to stop corruption, they are (not) saying to speak of honesty and justice is anti Armenian!!! I and others constantly decry the corruption in Armenia (without) bringing up the corruption in the rest of the world.
Your snippets of what you think are altruisms are often not true at all, and very often derogatory to Hayastan as a whole.

[Artashes]

Re: elegy

ON CORRUPTION
*********************************
Whenever the subject of corruption comes up,
someone is sure to pipe in:
�There is corruption everywhere.�
The implication being,
to speak of corruption in Armenia
is to tarnish our image in the eyes of the world.
*
Nothing pleases the corrupt more than to be told
there is nothing wrong or remotely questionable
in what you are doing.
*
If someone you love is raped or murdered
would you even consider saying,
rape and murder are as old as mankind?
*
Who justifies criminal conduct?
Only criminals.
*
To say there is corruption everywhere
is to imply to speak of honesty and justice
might as well be anti-Armenian and unpatriotic .
#

------ whenever the subject of corruption ... The implication being ... -----


On this forum, many Armenian contributors speak out with great contempt and disgust for the corrupt element in Armenia. We highlight it and speak out as to it's source and it's debilitating effects.
When you say ... Someone is sure to pipe in and say corruption is everywhere etc, you have taken that out of context.
It is when specific contributors speak of corruption in Armenia, as if every poor farmer and ordinary citizen is corrupt, or implies that this corruption is exclusively unique to Armenia.
The piping in as you discribe is a false depiction, as if every time corruption in Armenia is mentioned that (ALL!!!) Armenians as a knee jerk reaction point the finger at everyone else and say they do it to.
That is not the case and you have misrepresented the Armenian people's as a whole!!!
Can you pull up one (1) post to back up your claim? Just one!!!

When you accuse Armenians of not wanting to speak of honesty & justice (BECAUSE) it is being anti Armenian, you have greatly and grossly twisted the conversations of corruption on this forum to further your point.
You use the word Armenians as if they all were corrupt and conniving.
Pull up one post to prove your point.
That is a turc ploy and not an Armenian conduct.
I know you rarely respond to the accusations of your misrepresentations of the entire Armenian community, but rather two or three posts later sneak in more of this utter crap.
Pull up a post or can this crap.