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Los Angeles Times Valley Edition | Glendale News-Press | 2005 May 7
Wrapped up in flags
BY PATRICK AZADIAN
I have always liked flags. My first close encounter with these colorful symbols came at a young age, long before I could boast an American passport.
Keri (maternal uncle) delivered me an unexpected gift in the shape of a world map with all the assorted flags positioned on the lower horizontal strip. As we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Tehran, and I had yet to have my own personal space, my mom hung my present in the common hallway.
At young age I was already aware of my ethnic makeup. My parents' influence as well as our family summer and Easter vacations to my grandparents' house in the southwest of the capital had done their work on this four year old.
As soon as the map was secured on the sky blue wall, I examined what was level with my eyesight. I scanned all the colorful combinations of the world flags on the lower section of the map. My initial excitement in the color swatches was followed with further inquisitiveness.
I approached my mom in the kitchen and asked her why the Armenian flag was not included. She was probably relieved. As most first time moms, she must have secretly been preparing herself for the dreaded question of 'where do babies come from?' In contrast, the answer to my question required a little less tact and effort. As Armenia was a Soviet Republic at the time, her answer had something to do with Turks gobbling up most of Armenia and the Russians taking over the rest.
In retrospect, that moment was my initiation to dealing with the complex existence of being an Armenian, a person who has roots in more places than one, and an individual whose sense of belonging has a shorter memory span than the not-so-silent majority.
Throughout the years, the colors of the Armenian flag came to symbolize many things to those of us who were the offsprings of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
Scattered around the planet, the red, blue and the orange symbolized survival against adversity, a belief in the inalienable right for self-determination for all peoples, a commitment to democratic values, and a dedication to fight against the crimes committed against humanity.
Needless to say, the color combination still evokes a certain warm and fuzzy feeling inside me.
A few Sundays ago, on the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, I visited my neighborhood coffee shop. As I stepped out of the sidewalk, a caravan of cars sporting the American and Armenian flags passed in front of me. Apparently, the youngsters were returning from a demonstration commemorating the Armenian Genocide. Some cars carried as many as eight flags, two on the fenders, two on the roof, two on the trunk, one stretched on the hood, and a tiny one on the dashboard.
I knew what those flags meant to those kids. In their own way, they wanted to proclaim that they had not forgotten the atrocities that the world often tries to conveniently shove under the rug.
I understood, yet felt uneasy at their indulgence in the use of so many flags. It made me think.
How does the fervor on commemoration day get translated into something constructive and current? How does the desire to demand justice as Americans get transformed into helping our community? And how does the show of patriotism contribute to the betterment of our society.
In some ways, I envy the Armenian-American youth today.
With a sprawling Armenian community here in Glendale, and the existence of an independent Armenia, the opportunities to become an activist have become countless, the type of concrete possibilities we lacked as teenagers to channel our energy into helping our immediate community.
Newly arrived immigrants bring with them a unique set of challenges -- for themselves, as well as their newly adopted homes. At the same time, they also offer their more established counterparts an opportunity to help them adjust and make their transition as painless as possible. Helping the community help itself can only benefit our city.
On the international level, the opportunities for youngsters to take a more active role in shaping policies which can strengthen the American position around the world also exist. In the newly reborn independent Armenia, we have a potential for a model democratic state in a region which harbors so much hostility and misunderstanding toward the American way of life. Strengthening Armenian statehood, can be a promotion for democratic values in that part of the world.
Without a transformation of the zeal present on the day of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide into practical projects, flag-waiving will remain to be just that. As much as I love flags, wrapping ourselves in them, cannot be an end in itself.
Copyright 2005 Glendale News Press
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