Thank you for the opportunity to share some personal thoughts with you.

It’s especially meaningful for me to do so, as a former AYFer who was sworn-in (underage) as a 9-year old into the NJ “Arsen” chapter, and who counts my years serving in the AYF’s ranks among the best and most meaningful of my life.

Ungerner,

You are heirs to great nation, a proud legacy, and a tradition of sacrifice in service to the inalienable rights, security, and dignity of the Armenian people.

Through countless challenges to our survival, dating back more than 4,000 years.

From our ancient past to Avarayr to Sardarabad and Artsakh.

Among each generation, we, as Armenians, have done what was needed to ensure that their generation would not be our last.

More to the point – during these long, often dark, years – it has been a committed core, that has accepted the burden of our history and, with vision and selflessness, led the way forward.

For, if you study our past, you’ll find – time and again – that the courage required for our survival has been inspired by a devoted team.

Small at first, and then larger.

Young, and then reaching out to all ages.

Grassroots, and then embracing all corners of our nation.

True bottom up democracy.

Through their work and perseverance – what was once dismissed as hopelessly radical – justice, security, and rights  – became broadly accepted as the basic requirements of our survival.

Just as many once doubted – for decades – the cause of a free Armenia.

Just as many, just two decades ago, called into question the prospect of an independent Artsakh.

So too, today, there are those who lack the vision and courage to embrace the cause of justice for the crime of genocide committed against the Armenian nation.

They see the call for justice as a threat, not its denial.

They consider the quest for justice adventurism, when what it truly reckless is to believe that the viability of the Armenian nation can be secure without justice.

This fatalism; this world-weary cynicism that has infected far too many among us is, no doubt, the product of our often painful history, a history that has seen us as subjects for far longer than we have been free citizens.

A history that has visited upon us brutal massacres and genocide, and the loss of Armenian lives and land at the hands of foreign forces.

As a result, all too often, we see among elements of our nation a lack of confidence, a hopeless belief that endless accommodation and surrender represent our only means of survival.

We need to understand this dynamic, but never to accept it.

For defeatism is a sickness.

An illness that has spread into our nation.

An infirmity that threatens our survival.

You here, today, represent the cure.

The confidence.

The courage.

The committed core.

The unbending will of our people, “mer zhoghovoorti gamkuh.”

You speak for our values – when others are afraid.

You inspire our nation – when we need this inspiration the most.

You are – even today – helping to awaken our people to the challenges we face, the dangers around us, and the path – difficult as it may be – that we must take if we are to survive as a nation.

Take heart ungerner.

Take heart.

For you are the spirit, the strength, and the future of our nation.

Aram Suren Hamparian
ahamparian@yahoo.com