There are traffic jams in the streets of Yerevan during the daytime (not “peak”) hours. People are out Christmas shopping. There is an activity in supermarkets. This pre-New Year situation of 2021, 2022, and 2023 is no different from the previous years when there was no defeat and national humiliation. Today, this agitation seems even stranger to me. One hundred twenty thousand of our compatriots are under siege, cut off from the outside world, and in dire need of food, fuel, and medicine. And in Yerevan, there is a hot period of “corporate” parties: holiday lights, parties, dances, women with cleavages, etc.
How do I know all that, you ask? Well, of course, from the Internet, every second picture or video on the Facebook feed is one of those pleasures. People are happy and want to share their joy, which would be a natural desire under other circumstances.
Of course, no one has the right to say don’t dance, don’t sing, don’t celebrate the New Year, or clap your hands, do it. Only in totalitarian countries does the state decide when to be sad or happy. In all other political regimes, it is a personal matter for each individual. If an individual, a family, or a work team finds that they have a reason to celebrate, no one can stop them from doing so.
The only thing I can ask, joining my young colleague, Arman Gharibyan, is to show tact and not make public the photos and videos of those feasts, those luxurious tables. Ask, not demand or judge.
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For me, the holiday has long been Christmas. God willing, until that day, a door will be opened for our brothers and sisters.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
