These days are very cold in New York. So is in Armenia. It is both cold in New York and the life is so fast. Everyone is in a hurry. To be able to do the holiday shopping to take home and give their relatives and children as a gift and thus celebrate St. Christmas days. But in this haste, people may lose the most important thing: all his bank investment and treasures. Recently, a video was circulating on Facebook where a 13-14-year-old boy dressed in short sleeves and shivering was asking for help in one of the cold streets in the center of New York. Literally for two hours, the boy was shivering and thousands of passers-by were passing along the busy street. During these two hours, none of them approached to ask, dear child, why are you here, or take a few dollars and go to a warm place to eat.
The majority of people was not even noticing the boy even though they were passing by him. While others were just looking and passing by in silence. Finally, the boy clutched with cold and shivering knees and lies on the cold ground covering himself with a large garbage bag holding in his hand. And again no passerby either does not notice or does not go close. Finally, a homeless dressed in warm clothes is passing by this place and the first thing he does is approaching the boy, taking out of his warm coat and dressing the boy. He hugs him to warm a little, takes out a few dollars out of his pocket, gives to the boy saying, go to a warm place and have a good meal. Here the video ends.
This might be a social experiment. But two things immediately came to my mind. First, a short-sleeves freezing child and the public does not notice him. Secondly, in a few days ago, a man in Yerevan was frozen to death. Many of us did not know and some did not notice him. Dear reader. Every society is strong and all kinds of bad things disappear from him when mercy lives in this society. Thank God, the simple Christian mercy inherited to us from our ancestors has been preserved in our nation. These days are also cold in Armenia. Please, while your days are passing in a fuss and running about, let us not forget the people who live next to us and need our mercy. Helping the nearby, this is the true investment that every man can do in this life.
The Son of God said to us. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20-21). This is why I wrote above that in a haste a man can lose all his treasures and investments. Because gold and money cannot help us before God but the fact of how much treasure we have stored in his heavenly bank. And this bank is your nearby. How many good and mercy deeds we have done in the life of people around us. So that our society would not be like the above-mentioned people where love is almost growing cold. “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 2412), warned us the Lord Jesus Christ speaking of the last days. Let’s not allow the love grow cold in the hearts of the Armenian people. Let us keep the mercy to each other alive and we will see how our personal and social lives will be transformed.
ARMEN HAREYAN
