The first chancellor of post-war Germany, which was defeated in World War II, Konrad Adenauer, said, “When others think you’re done, that’s when you need to start.” The question is where we need to start in the case of our defeated state. Let me try to answer that question without taking into account the current ‘information noise.’
Armenians try to find the solutions to their problems in people, thinking that if a person is in accordance with their ideas of modesty and patriotism (which, of course, are very relative), then the nation and state will be on the path to prosperity. But prosperity, in its turn, is not so clear: is it the GDP, its ‘fair’ distribution, smiles on people’s faces, or having a fearsome arsenal while considering our neighbors’ “qualities”? Or, perhaps we should approach the issue of prosperity from another angle, and consider that the basis of prosperity is people, citizens who know what they need to do and who found their place in this lifetime. In that case, perhaps the state will find its place.
How can people find their calling? There are many stories of famous people having prophetic dreams where angels told them how to live. I’m not against it; maybe that happens too. But in order to see that dream, you need to have some sort of foundation that is built in your waking state. People’s (societies’, nations’) dreams are the formation of their visions for the future, finally, as a result of conscious actions.
When do these actions begin at the individual level? I believe from kindergarten, at the very least. It is at the point when people appear in the lives of children who, it can be said, have a fateful mission- to see the ‘divine plan’ in every human being, no less. So, kindergarten teachers, school teachers, and university professors need to become the most important people in society. It is no coincidence that in post-war Germany, education and, above all, general education, were given crucial importance.
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The word oikonomia entered the European discourse at least 1,000 years prior to when economists began to use it. That understanding was paralleled with another understanding, paideia– education or pedagogy. What is this about? According to theologians from the first centuries AD, the history of mankind itself can be considered a huge education process where man moves to perfection according to a certain divine plan.
You may ask what this editorial had to do with April 24th. I think it was very relevant.
Aram Abrahamyan
