“Sniff, snuff, snore, purr, bachelor.” One of the most vivid memories of my childhood is “Snow Queen,” a play at the Stanislavski Theater, in which Ivan Grikurov would play the part of the Adviser – negative character. The above-mentioned words are magic words using which the good wizard solves all problems in the play. In real life, unfortunately, this is not the case. There is no code using which one can reform the world, the country. Moreover, there are no formulas using which people can easily improve themselves. It is not random that all religions don’t just have a one-time prayer, but have a system of prayers, actions and behavior following which one can save his soul.
Certainly, the same thing applies to social life. There are people who think that if they say “Serzhik,” “Sashik,” “Mishik,” as well as “Lfik,” “Nemets” and generally show the whole “palette” of their family upbringing, that’s it, the criminal oligarchic system will be destroyed because of those terrifying words, everyone will start to make an honest living, and the criminals will appear behind bars. If it had been so easy, Armenia and the world would have become paradise long ago. However, there is no corner in the world, where words have the expected magical power, and where living conditions are close to those of paradise.
Therefore, there is no particular meaning and even courage in merely uttering words (chanting slogans). Words should be united into complete, coherent ideas, which are called sentences. However, it is not enough either; those sentences should in turn form a system that will show the vision of its authors – what they want to do to reform life. That system is usually called a plan or a conception. The election campaign should, at least, theoretically aim at that.
Does this campaign correspond to those requirements? Inasmuch as political culture and thinking is developed in our country. Within those limits, some candidates for president try to present their programs as much as they can; let the voter decide whether they are right or wrong. A set of candidates, on the other hand, although they have been nominated and paid 8 million drams, waste their whole energy on explaining why they don’t present any program. However, their behavior is also worth respect, as compared to those who haven’t nominated their candidacies, but try to besmirch those who have.
…Since some original promises are also made during this election campaign, let me make my own promise. I promise to go on a one-day hunger strike on August 15 and not write an editorial the next day.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
