I have heard recently that the performance of one of the “elite” schools in Yerevan dedicated to the Armenian alphabet was delivered in a restaurant. Moreover, when one of the parents objected to such “elitism,” they explained to him that it was the principal’s order and then this parent became a “white crow” at that party. I don’t know what will remain in children’s memories – the alphabet invented by Mesrop Mashtots or the names of salads and hot dishes. Anyway, this merely gastronomic way of holding a festival and guaranteeing flashbulb memories for children is in line with today’s leading system of values. One shouldn’t listen to speakers at rallies or congresses for that, but parents collecting money for the performance and their children.
In my childhood, a paper was pinned on the wall at the Housing and Communal Services office, which was called The Moral Code of Those Building Communism. It was clear for me as early as in 4th-5th grade (I think for millions of people too) that no Communism was being built in my country and those speculations were the same hypocrisy and pharisaism as the official speeches made today. However, there were written absolutely correct and acceptable things about honesty, kindness and mutual assistance of people in the main text of that Moral Code. Probably, the Communist ideology wanted to replace the Bible verities, as Robespierre first destroyed churches and monasteries and then invented some Divine Creature, understanding that the system of values needed a pillar. However, revolutionaries never understood that this pillar could be formed naturally, in the course of centuries.
The Divine Creature in today’s Armeniais money and “goods” related to it, including certainly barbeques and kebabs. Everybody – from high-ranking clergymen to principals of “elite” schools – “delivers a course” in worshiping that “creature.” It certainly has its material basis – quickly appearing in the whirl of market economy, we were deprived of the formal regulations of the last era, gaining natural guidelines of attitude. Those who unexpectedly became wealthy – let’s call them “elite daddies” for convenience – didn’t know what to do with that wealth and fell into viciousness.
And which are the guidelines to get out of that condition? I am convinced that those are the same Bible verities, which preach restraint and moderation, in particular. And not only the Holy Bible, but also the everyday life proves that only the one who has the will to deprive himself of something can achieve real success.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
