Are we strong or weak?

“We”, as in the Armenians.

I have such mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is painfully obvious that we are a very small nation, in terms of numbers. The country itself is relatively tiny, too. But the mere fact that the country exists must testify to something, some manner of accomplishment by the Armenians.

There’s the old tirade about how we are blockaded, surrounded by enemies, etc. and yet we are surviving. No one can deny this, really. But, for one thing, it isn’t over yet. I don’t think it ever will be over, but all I’m saying is we cannot quite draw that conclusion. We certainly couldn’t say the same thing, say, a hundred years ago…

The reason these thoughts occurred to me was that, within the same week we’ve been having something of a stand-off in Georgia, regarding an old Armenian church in Tiflis that the Georgian Orthodox Church wants to appropriate; we’ve been making a ruckus over it, but I really wonder how much power we have over the matter… at the same time, we held our Armenia Fund telethon, and raised 35 million dollars, a further 30 having been pledged before, with more to come… Surely this show some solidarity, surely it gives weight to the idea that Armenia would be nothing without her Diaspora.

And yet… 65 million dollars…? I mean, not to sound terribly condescending or snooty, but that is really a paltry sum, in all honesty. It’s still a big deal that we have it, and the amount has been increasing year by year. God willing, it will reach the hundreds of millions soon…

I don’t know, I just feel like ranting, playing this old drum, trying to find our place. Are we just the runt that likes to think too highly of himself, or do the Armenians truly have a say? I’d like to think that, at the very least, we have a say in our own destiny. Perhaps that’s all we need.