Re: notes / comments
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
*******************************************
PAST INJUSTICES & FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
************************************************** *****************************
The deepest wounds are self-inflicted.
*
A man obsessed with past injustices will be blind to future opportunities.
*
A less than perfect settlement, even a bad settlement, is better than no settlement.
*
During the last century, we have failed to reach a consensus with the Turks. Things may change in the next century and we may do better, but hope is not a policy.
*
If we have failed it may be because we have allowed the wrong people to represent us. Who should represent us? Not politicians, ideologues, or for that matter, nationalist historians, but lawyers, preferably odar lawyers, not because they are better or smarter, but rather because they care less about the truth (a metaphysical concept) and more about the evidence.
*
To negotiate and compromise is better than not to negotiate, if only because to compromise for the uncompromising is a step in the right direction. If we compromise and reach a consensus with the Turks, some day we may even compromise and reach a consensus with our fellow Armenians. If that happens, future historians may open a new chapter in our history subtitled “The Birth of a Nation.”
#
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
*******************************************
PAST INJUSTICES & FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
************************************************** *****************************
The deepest wounds are self-inflicted.
*
A man obsessed with past injustices will be blind to future opportunities.
*
A less than perfect settlement, even a bad settlement, is better than no settlement.
*
During the last century, we have failed to reach a consensus with the Turks. Things may change in the next century and we may do better, but hope is not a policy.
*
If we have failed it may be because we have allowed the wrong people to represent us. Who should represent us? Not politicians, ideologues, or for that matter, nationalist historians, but lawyers, preferably odar lawyers, not because they are better or smarter, but rather because they care less about the truth (a metaphysical concept) and more about the evidence.
*
To negotiate and compromise is better than not to negotiate, if only because to compromise for the uncompromising is a step in the right direction. If we compromise and reach a consensus with the Turks, some day we may even compromise and reach a consensus with our fellow Armenians. If that happens, future historians may open a new chapter in our history subtitled “The Birth of a Nation.”
#
Comment