Yesterday, I read a little story on Facebook, which is very typical to our, the Armenians’ public consciousness. An old woman was forcing her pregnant daughter not to cross the street through the subway but above, through the busy traffic street, bringing the excuse, which I have hear or read almost every day, “It should be a legitimate country to cross the street by the law.” The case, so to say, is daily, but it contains a whole philosophy in it. Accordingly, there is a country, a state, which is beyond us, which has nothing to do with our, the individual’s behavior and thinking, and it is our “business” to wait patiently until this country becomes legitimate, until it grants us jobs and prosperity, and in that case, we would be so kind to fulfil the laws and work.
It was the way probably 25 years ago when the country, the state was not ours, although in this case I would have made some reservations, there has been never and under no circumstances excuses for irresponsibility, untidiness and laziness. But now, it is definitely the case, the level of legitimacy of the country is the sum of being lawful and illegitimate by all. If the building entrances, I am sorry, smell urine, it still does not mean that I need to urinate there, too. But, realizing your own responsibility is still not enough, you must also understand that there are no finally and ultimately solved problems in any place, in any country. For instances, when we say that this-or-that country is a democratic one, we should not conclude that a democracy is “established” there.
It just means that there is a public consensus: to make daily efforts for different types of relationships be democratic. In Armenia, for instances, there is no such consensus. There are people who say swearwords to democracy. Whereas, some are in favor of democracy by words, but have “internal enemies” in front of them who prevent them to these “high aspirations”. So, actually they are against. There is no consensus, as we saw, also on legality. But, even if there is a consensus, it does not ensure purely mechanical permanent success.
Let’s admit that half a century ago, the Americans agreed that racism is a bad thing. But a few days ago, the events in the city of Ferguson, Missouri State, prove that the agreement was not “final”. The police killed an Afro-American teenager, and there is grounds to believe that they had no serious reasons for it. This murder became a cause of a few days unrest on the ground of racial. Therefore, even if there is a consensus, it requires an everyday “refreshment”. In short, legitimacy, democracy, national and racial tolerance depend on one person. And this person… you know who he is.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
