I know that what I am going to write will make the propagators of perdition, disaster and the apocalypse displeased, but I have to describe what I have seen with my own eyes. On Sunday, I went to Dalma Garden Mall for the first time. The problem is not that it reminds me of similar “institutions” in the West. It is more interesting that this huge building was packed, and I don’t think that those thousands of people were all, without exceptions, representatives of the criminal oligarchic system, bribers and members of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). It is just that there are people who prefer not to go to an Eastern bazaar called Hrazdan Fair a few dozen meters away, where goods are a bit cheaper, and one can bargain, but to go to this hypermarket with its fountains, music and cafes, where one will surely get a receipt.
There are people who complain about it, curse it, protest against it, not because they are poor and cannot go shopping there, but because they are accustomed to a bazaar. The same logic applies to the people who complain about speed guns and traffic cameras. It seems one just has to avoid breaking traffic rules, and he won’t be “photographed” and fined. But no, if they drive according to the rules, “as everyone else,” then with what, how will they show that they are tough guys, they are not like everyone else, that they are agile and nimble? Well, when a traffic policeman stands on the street, you can show all those “praiseworthy” qualities, “bargaining” with those policemen as if at a bazaar. Firstly, if you are a “respected guy,” a “traffic cop” may avoid fining you and may say, “Drive on, bro.” If you have broken the rules before, you can proudly tell about that. There are many other ways of proving that you are not an “ordinary guy” – you can call one of your relatives, who is a platoon commander and can show courtesy, do you a favor and solve your problems. In the end, if all this doesn’t work, there will be a pause between you and a traffic policeman for a few moments, after which the “cop” will say the “Now what?” magic phrase, after which you will realize that you should take out a 5- or 10-thousand bill out of your pocket. And he will let you go – what else is “humanity,” which is so characteristic of our nation, for? And now imagine that a speed gun or a traffic camera, which is a piece of metal unaware of courtesy, favors and humanity, is installed instead of a traffic policeman. A whole system of relations, I would even say a philosophy of life, is ruined because of that. You become like “everyone” else and cannot boast about your incompliance with the rules anymore. Thus, we have complaints from both “tough guys” and naturally police officers providing for their families on bribes. Pardon me for not writing about the presidential election today. I just honestly think that our problems are not conditional on the president’s personality. Certainly, supporters of a “bazaar” don’t think so.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
