One of my students told me that he had a problem with his professor and when he expressed his disagreement with the professor’s viewpoint, the latter exclaimed, “Do you know who I am?” Perhaps it seems to some people that it is a “sobering”, terrifying question, but actually the person who asks that question humiliates himself and what he has done to a large extent in the first place. Because if your interlocutor doesn’t know who you are, you will not “enlighten” him by that question, even if you are the inventor of the eternal consumption engine or the author of the nation rescue project.
When a person demands a special treatment to himself, it means only one thing – he lacks adequate perception of the reality, skepticism necessary for that, humor if you like. I have been to a meeting of a very talented artist with his fans recently and one of the people present said, “You are demigod for me.” In response to such a claim, the artist did not laugh, did not oppose and didn’t get angry. Then, deep in his heart he does not rule out the possibility of his being a demigod. When such a thing was said to Johannes Sebastian Bach, he waved away and said, “It is nonsense, I just press the right keys at the right time – if you work as hard as I do, you will be able to do the same thing.”
It was first president of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian’s 67th birthday the other day. I congratulate, although late, but from the depths of my heart one of the founders of our state and wish him to get back to his beloved occupation, science, as soon as possible. However, first president’s fans gathered near Saryan Statue to celebrate that birthday “nationally”. The president should have forbidden that, he would have done so 15-20 years ago – birthday is for personal celebration, “national festivals” on that occasion are organized only for Stalin or Kim Jong-il.
The pre-election campaign will start soon and the candidates for the majority election system, in particular, will be telling about their heroic acts, “Do you know what I have done for this nation?” And they will make poor people “spell” in front of the camera for a few pennies, “Oh, a great well-doer, oh, the rescuer of the nation, I wish all our businessmen were like him.” It is more or less unavoidable. The only think one can ask is that the politicians missing legislative work do not lose the sense of humor.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
