Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Feb. 7, 2015)

Victimization

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.
… Samuel Johnson

 

Lament of an 18-Year-Old Recruit

I’m old enough to give my life for my country, but not old enough to drink.

 

The Monkey’s Viewpoint

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree
Discussing things as they’re said to be.
Said one to the others, “Now listen, you two,
There’s a certain rumor that can’t be true,
That man descends from our noble race—
The very idea is a vile disgrace.
No monkey ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies and ruined her life;
And you’ve never known a mother monk
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or to pass them on from one to another
‘Til they scarcely know who is their mother.
And another thing you’ll never see—
A monk build a fence ‘round a coconut tree
And let the coconuts go to waste,
Forbidding all other monks to taste.
Why, if I put a fence around this tree,
Starvation would force you to steal from me.
Here’s another thing a monk won’t do—
Go out at night and get in a stew,
Or use a gun or club or knife
To take some other monkey’s life;
Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss—
But, brother, he didn’t descend from us!”

 

What’s in a Name?

Madzounian: Armenian in derivation, identified as a trade, madzoun is defined as cultured milk, thus someone who makes or markets such a product.

CK Garabed

CK Garabed

Weekly Columnist
C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Kasbarian) has been active in the Armenian Church and Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenian Americans. He has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Reporter and the AGBU Literary Quarterly, “ARARAT.” For the last 30 years, Garabed has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Weekly. He produces a weekly column called “Uncle Garabed's Notebook,” in which he presents an assortment of tales, anecdotes, poems, riddles, and trivia; for the past 10 years, each column has contained a deconstruction of an Armenian surname. He believes his greatest accomplishment in life, and his contribution to the Armenian nation, has been the espousing of Aghavni, and the begetting of Antranig and Lucine.
CK Garabed

Latest posts by CK Garabed (see all)

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*