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Los Angeles Times Valley Edition | Glendale News-Press | 2005 September 10
Simple freedoms are not a myth
BY PATRICK AZADIAN
Years ago, and after a long absence dictated by political upheaval in a far away land, my father rejoined us in America.
After a few sentimental months, he got back into his stride and set a few short-term goals for himself. First, he enrolled in an English class, where he took pride in scoring A+'s on his exams.
He was grateful to the instructor. Even after I told him that the ritual of gifting the teacher with an apple has long been deemed politically incorrect in America, he continued to take Armenian pastries to class every week.
He was just enthusiastic about being here. Whenever I expressed discontent with the political atmosphere, he was quick to point out where we came from. He wanted me to maintain a healthy point of reference and be aware of some of the basic freedoms we take for granted. Freedoms such as my sister running to the supermarket in her shorts, or me not having to walk over land mines as a teenager in order to enter the gates of heaven.
Second item on Dad's agenda was to make sure there were no loose ends when it came to family business. He had no tolerance for dilly-dallying.
It wasn't long before he discovered something needed our attention. Although we had all been legal residents in America for at least a decade, we had put off our application to become citizens. He was not only furious but also flabbergasted at his own family's casual attitude toward the issue.
We promptly applied.
Years later, and a week after the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, I took a trip to Las Vegas, where I came to better understand my father.
This was my mom's turn to be furious. She pleaded with me: "Tgha jan, anpayman heema petk a ertas?!" (In Armenian, "Dear son, do you really have to go now?!")
I had my ticket and my room reservation. I was going.
"What if they strike Vegas next?" she asked.
In a failed attempt to calm her down, I gave her a prediction: "Vegas is the last place they'll destroy. Where do you think they play when they're not 'working?' "
In spite of my exterior, I was nervous. I was not sure what to expect. I'd heard all sorts of hearsay about racial profiling. I was aware of rumors about being red-flagged if one's passport indicated a place of birth different than America.
Would I be plucked out of the crowd and be frisked mercilessly? Would elderly people from Orange County stare at me? Would travelers avoid sitting next to me?
I was ready for common-sense security checks, but did not want to feel alienated because of acts which had as much to do with me as people who can trace their roots to the Mayflower.
I arrived at the airport about four hours early.
I was happy to see security was tight, but not intrusive enough to disrupt our way of life.
After going through a series of security checkpoints with my integrity well intact, I found an empty chair at the terminal. A few minutes passed before an older lady asked if she could sit next to me. I said: "Yes, of course," but found the request unusual. You can imagine how empty the terminals where at the time.
We chatted throughout the flight and I realized she had been as nervous as my mom regarding the trip. But she had business in Vegas and was not willing to let her fears get the best of her. The conversation on the flight made the trip one of the quickest hops to Vegas. She had been looking for a co-traveler to ease her anxiety.
Once I checked in at my hotel, I made my way to the pool. There too, I had many poolside benches to choose from. Not long after I settled on my big white towel, two middle-aged men asked if they could take the seats next to me. Again, I found their friendliness uncommon.
They turned out to be Italian-Americans from New York on their annual boys-weekend-out in Vegas. We chatted for hours with a backdrop of some corporate-sponsored bikini contest. Miss New York got the biggest cheer, or course.
I realized then that America is as much about simple, casual freedoms, as it is about grandiose speeches about utopian democracy, self-righteousness and morality. I also learned that in the face of an outside threat, we began to seek one another out. Adam Mayblum, a survivor of the attacks wrote: "America is not an image, it's a concept... If you want to kill us, leave us alone and we'll do it by ourselves. If you want to make us stronger, attack -- and we unite. This is the ultimate failure of terrorism against the United States and the ultimate price we pay to be free, to decide where we want to work, what we want to eat and when and where we want to go on vacation."
Copyright 2005 Glendale News Press
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