What are we Promising?

 

Special for the Armenian Weekly

My daughters are downstairs, discussing the different ways to say “promise” in Armenian—one is saying “khostoom” while the other says “ookht” and what ensues is the sweetest argument in perfect Western Armenian.  I wish I could take credit for this, but all the accolades go to their Armenian teachers Digin Garineh Panossian, Digin Nanor Ekmekjian, and their stalwart principal, Digin Grace Andonian.

They kept their promise—and now we must do the same.

‘We must make this promise. The promise to—once and for all—end the white genocide: the linguistic genocide of our language.’

This week, many of us have adapted photos frames through social media. I have framed my own profile with an advertisement for a great and noteworthy cause—the production and debut of a film about our story, our inheritance, and the pain and suffering of one of history’s tragedies.

We have promoted a film with the hopes that our voices will be heard, and have repeated the title to virtually everyone we know—promising to remember the silenced plots of our ancestors.  William Saroyan wrote, “This is a thing you remember and remember.  The remembrance is full of the hush and mystery of the world.” We remember, we pass down stories, we post the sepia toned and torn photos of our beloved grandparents in an attempt to resurrect these voices—and then, come May, June and beyond, these stories get buried in our photo streams until we are reminded next April, to post them again, and again, and again.

It has become—for lack of a better word—the Armenian “groundhog day,” where we unify our forces and direct our powers to the acknowledgement of the unpunished bloody crime so tragic that it becomes—in many ways—the “hush” of the world.

Until that time when I am reminded to post photos again, my daughter’s class will graduate from Krouzian Zekarian Vasbouragan Armenian School—the only Armenian school in the Bay Area. They will be leaving the ojakh—the warm hearth of this jewel—where they pray Nerses Shnorhali’s 11th promise daily, read books by [19th century Armenian novelist] Raffi, study and recite poems by Levon Surmelian and Andranik Dzaroukian, write essays in perfect Armenian, and create hilarious memes about Armenian issues.

For those who think the education is not balanced, let me reiterate that these same children performed a play about the American Revolution, won science fairs in San Francisco, and have been accepted to San Francisco’s most prestigious high schools with the hopes of strengthening themselves, while working as young diplomats for the power of our people.

But that’s not all. They are armed with a full and complete understanding of not only the stories of an ancient people, but the language which so many of their own Armenian peers are unable to use.

We must make this promise. The promise to—once and for all—end the white genocide: the linguistic genocide of our language.  The promise for an awakening—a “zartonk”—a revival, and rebirth from the ashes of our history.

The promise we must make is to instill and reclaim that language which was stolen, and to fill it in the hungry mouths of future seedlings—to erase the idea that Armenian is a “dead language” or “unimportant in the world of commerce and technology.”

Our language is the most important part of our being, and if for whatever reason you did not get the chance to learn it, promise to arm your children with the foils and shields of Armenian literacy so that they can—like this year’s Armenian school graduates—enter the global world armed with the promise that was made and kept.

 

Sevana Panosian

Sevana Panosian

Sevana Panosian is a retired award winning AP English Instructor who will now be an instructional coach and middle school instructor at Krouzian Zekarian Vasbouragan Armenian School in San Francisco. Sevana is a native of San Francisco and an active member of the Armenian community.
Sevana Panosian

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3 Comments

  1. Sevan a, I couldn’t agree with you more. My 4 daughters as well were given the gift of an Armenian Wlementary school they 5th grade here in Boston area at St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School in Watwrtown, Ma. We too here on the east coast emplore Armenian American families tonkeep that Promise to embrace the R culture, heritage and language. To be the voice of Mesrob Mashdotz and all our great poets & writers to always cherish this language, which is at risk of extinction. Then the white genocide of the Turks will have been complete. Let’s #KeepThe Promise to not be a lost nation from history books but one alive and well in the diaspora and our homeland .

  2. Excellent article. Our Armenian schools are the key to our survival. Our beautiful culture and language are kept alive while our children obtain an incredibly strong education. It is up to every Armenian to support our schools and help them flourish. “Our revenge is to survive”

  3. Language is sustainable only on native land. We have built churches in Diaspora communities in Europe (Poland, Lviv, Transylvania (Romania, Hungary) and Asia (Singapore , Rangoon, Madras) since the fall of Bagratuni dynasty. Where are they now? Their churches stand still as relic to the past. Language and church slowed down the assimilation process but couldn’t stop it. Our efforts should be directed at reversing the tide of emigration by helping Armenia become strong economically and growing the population.

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