The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem (Source: EFBM)
BY BAYDZIG KALAYDJIAN
How fair will we be if we have the courage to voice the overt human tragedy around the world? The unpleasant part of it are the feelings buried in the tender hearts beating with the aspiration for rebellion, which push humans to erupt in the face of injustice.
The number of human tragedies around the world increases day by day and the responsibility to ponder over them seems to be placed solely on the United Nations. Isn’t it high time that we universally felt the misery of the deprived, stretched out a helping hand to the forcefully displaced persons (FDPs), committed every effort to halt domestic emigration, sowed consciousness in the souls of the weak and the helpless to end the slavish “humility,” displayed signs of outburst with regard to the missing freedom fighters, soldiers and captured and finally, threw down the gauntlet against human injustices for the sake of the rearing of the new generation of tomorrow. We have started to notice hollowness around us defeated by rebellion and struggle spirit where soulless ghosts have burned down the life fire instead of seeing a human being defined to soar with blaze spirit. I suddenly start thinking about why instead of surrendering to the lashes of life we don’t become the fierce voice of the rebellious conscience that perplexes the unmerciful souls and why we don’t become the sunray that warms up the body of freezing and naked bodies? This is my complaint to the entire humanity and I ask myself: “Where is our Wailing Wall?” Isn’t the policy of keeping “historically” unjust stone silence on national, human and friendly grounds enough – when our foreheads will turn red against the Wailing Wall because of the blood glimmering from the burned heart, when the human wrath will become the vein of life of the struggling hearts in almost all regions and the riotous aspiration, the steel nerve that will give birth to the spirit throwing itself into the field of revolutionary struggle and arm it.
One seeking humaneness, justice and judgment must have suffered much from ideal loves and humane desires – the feeling of remaining unanswered perplexes him, the resentment gets “swollen” in his throat but he is not strong enough to morph into a sparkling lightning bolt on the naked back of human nature and human pride that is born of lordly wealth and human injustice that lacks conscience and from the depths of his pitiless rule blows the foams of his disdain in the mass face of the poor and those deprived. This is why I have my forehead against the “Wailing Wall” but my resentment emits smoke, while my heart wails for the humble, miserable, unlucky, deported, emigrated, those being decapitated in front of people, in broad daylight for their religion, the forcefully displaced and the apostates who are my brothers and sisters on the path of struggle for freedom.
……………..
I cast an eye at old Faust the genius author of which I was asking for “light, more light,” while we beg love to humanity and more love to justice.” Old Faust was looking forward to love, having gotten tired of the sciences and wisdom of life and as a sign of the recovering resentment he had spread his purple mantle, flaming gown down his withered and humpbacked shoulders. There was a huge skull in front of him that was also worn out similar to the hope for love being born in his soul that had grown tired of experiences. He is proud, has quite a temperament and has stored the knowledge of centuries, but with an aspiration for a jealous life he is looking for love and is enthralled by the beautiful without realizing that the beautiful is just an idea and it’s with this illusion that he lives and believes that the suffering and devoted human love is the supreme and eternal truth.
With my forehead against the “Wailing Wall”, I celebrate the glory of the bleeding and devoting love in order to save from the sins of cognitive illusions. Each passing day leaves its trace with question marks hanging on it and we continue to give names to each paper-case concealing fetid realities full of a bit of injustice, a bit of inhumaneness, a bit of antinationalism and lots of other “bits” which solely dim the horizons of the new generations.
Concerns for emigration
Every person on our planet lives a life full of questions, don’t they? They turn to people wiser than them to get answers to their questions, don’t they? It is so sad to witness their surprise and confusion to the truths that they used to “herald” for centuries. Didn’t they turn to the “successful” in the world that have paid with blood of the people for the sinful greediness? They wrote, annunciated and continue to angrily utter words of condemnation and seek those standing accountable against the background of the emigration. According to the Diaspora Ministry, there are seven to eight million Armenians in the Diaspora in over 60 countries. According to optimistic reports, there are 3 million 26 000 Armenians residing in Armenia. For the first time in our history the number of Armenians living in the Diaspora is the threefold of Armenians living in our native land. If we cast a look at the near past, around 30 young people from Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria left their houses to settle on the bank of Tsav River in Ditsmayri village in Syunik region as part of resettlement plan in Qashatagh. It would be good to know what progress that program has reached when it had managed to inspire young Diaspora Armenians to consider moving to their homeland. It’s not clear for us why this program did not serve its purpose. Owing to its numerous programs, the Ministry of Diaspora succeeded in bringing thousands of children to their motherland but the deliberate immaturity of those looking through the eyes of criticism prevailed and from notebook pages to global press got flooded with criticism and as usual, the beautiful and the kind became a scapegoat.
The identity of Hamshen Armenians
The issue of Hamshen Armenians, the issue of “Turkified Armenians” that had been doomed to silence for over 90 years following the Armenian Genocide, has been one of the most crucial topics in the past decades for Armenians. Their number is estimated to range between 300 000 and 3 000 000. Almost every day there is an ordinary citizen or a high-ranking official daring to voice their Armenian roots. However, the pace of history nowadays puts them in an entirely different historical and social context. And in Turkey, we everyday hear about the testimonies of the present offspring of Armenians that were massacred during in the Armenian Genocide committed during World War 1. These people speak about their imminent and irrefutable instinct to find their Armenian roots. (Let’s recall “My Grandmother” memoir by Fethiye Cetin.) However, the brave people that were forcefully deprived of their Armenian identity are today suffering from the issue of identity, form the concern to go back to their roots whereas the Armenian media responds: “The Armenian Church refuses to christen Hamshen Armenians.” In this regard, we should simply recall the gratifying ceremony during which Rev. Arch. Mesrob Ashjian baptized with Holy Chrism thousands of children, women and men on Tsav River when resettlement program in Ditsmayri was turning into reality.
……………………….
With love and faith I suffer for all the humble, for all the deprived and for all those aspiring for the light. My soul kneels down before them with sympathy because I know now it’s the only way to overcome the evil. We should love this suffering human love among the values of life and it’s from where we should get indestructible strength against the evil of misery of which the human tragedy is born. Let’s be a brother to the one suffering and wear armor and break the chains of those deprived of the good in life.
In order to live with a clear conscience we should forget what appears deceitful and look for the complete truth. Almost all universal, national, friendly and why not handicraft circles should have faith in the truth as it is the honesty to live with harmonized unity of thought, emotions, freedom of speech and practical life.
Why do I love and suffer? For the longings we all share without exception in humbleness and hardship. Human sympathy is a powerful fascination and it paves the way for compassion and fellowship in the hearts of others for us to feel the itching of the wound that resembles an open wound on the heart.
In my turn, I realize that the evil and suffering make us pessimistic. But why are the compassion and fellowship awakening in our hearts being unable to arm our will in a way as to overcome the disappointment, pessimism and fear which constrain our souls and make us powerless to struggle waving the flags of our ideology.
Should we be superhuman to be able to live based on the eminent instincts of those who perceive a life of struggle for a glorious adventure, to shun the monotony of dull and boring people happy with their state? How viable is the feeling of struggle and how weak is the person’s will for heroic sensations…
Source: Asbarez
Link: Where Is Our “Wailing Wall”?
