Last Thursday and Friday, I was at the “Aram Khachatryan” Concert Hall, at the concerts of the symphony and then philharmonic orchestras. I warmly regard both leaders; and I was delighted to see Sergey Smbatyan where he should be- at the conductor’s panel.
Once again, I understood how important it is to continue cultural and spiritual life amid serious security threats and political upheaval. It is also essential that there should be a particular social layer (I understand that it cannot be the majority) that discusses social issues with high, non-philistine standards.
“La politique est faite pour la canaille” (roughly, politics is made for scoundrels), wrote one of my favorite writers, Gustave Flaubert. Of course, it is said too strictly: specific groups of people must fight for power, and we, the citizens, must be connected to that struggle to a certain extent. But besides politics (struggle for power), there is also policy. It was Aristotle who described it as “the search for the common good”.
And that search implies a certain level of dialogue. The atmosphere of Facebook insults in which we live, and in which the current government feels like a fish in water, excludes such dialogue. By and large, it also excludes the role of cultural, spiritual and ethical values. But who said you have to adapt to that atmosphere?
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On that occasion, I remembered a public dialogue that took place at the end of the last century between the writer Umberto Eco and Cardinal Martini. (The debate was later published in a separate book and translated into many languages.) The agnostic and a famous Vatican figure discuss issues related to faith. But how: Without rhetorical tricks, without domestic contradictions, without rejecting each other’s beliefs. In the very first letter, the Italian writer, who is also a specialist in medieval theology, suggests “to aim higher”.
Of course, it isn’t easy; especially in our case, when a war can start every minute, and the attitude and abilities of your government do not promise anything good. However, it is necessary to think about perspective, not these minute solutions, and discuss and argue about them, setting a high bar.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
