Society

Tolerance is a good thing and it seems as if it is most necessary for the person being tolerated, but in reality it comforts the person who tolerates. When you have no problem with anyone, you become harmonious and you rest at ease.

I am Armenian. I think and speak Armenian. This is how I differ from other people. I am a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church. This is how my faith differs from others. I have never had any problems with my differences and have never been subjected to persecutions. I have never made any comment to anyone else about our nation and church, nor have I said that our belief is the right kind, that we were the first Christians, etc. Perhaps this is the reason why I have never been pressured. I have simply felt no need to prove anything, to save someone. Instead, I have tried to clarify and understand why others are more different than I am. I think that tolerance is something like being indifferent-if it falls in the category of revolution or if it is not allowed to be tolerated.

Years ago, when I was living on the first floor of a high apartment building, I had many occasions of communicating with different kinds of people who, upon entering the building, came to my apartment first. There were so many people, starting from the partisans of Paruyr Hayrikyan during the elections and ending with the honey sellers. One time a woman knocked my door. She asked if I wanted any honey. I told her no. She said that it was very good honey and that I should take it. I told her that we had honey in the house. She suggested that I buy another one because it is good honey. I told her to take it and give it to people who don’t have it. The conversation continued like this and I, being the tolerant one that I am, bought the honey. (During the two years in that building, I bought a lot of honey). What am I trying to say? The honey seller standing at the counter in the market does not need to be tolerant even when she is publicly advertising her product in a loud voice because she faces no danger. The reason for this is that she can not set any price she wants on her product. Basically, she is just doing her job and does not make too much commotion.

The European Union does not require us to be tolerant in the case of, for example, the followers of the religious sects. Why is it like that? What do the European Union religious sects have that we don’t? It is all quite simple: the religious sects go about with their daily lives without forcing anyone to join them. I don’t remember hearing about an Armenian and a Yezdi having a conflict based on religion. There has never been a thing like that and so, there can be no discussion about tolerance.

We feel the need of being tolerant only when something that influences leads to a counter reaction. For example, when the honey seller tries to sell his or her product in your own house, rather than at the market. At a time when there was a movement against Russianization, experts were bringing up facts such as the rich and high-level Russian literature. This is like the honey sold at the market. It is set on the counter, if you want some, go and buy it. But when the number of Russian schools reached the number of Armenian schools, when half of the words used in conversation were Russian, when everything was written and accepted in Russian-this was a movement which had to give way to some kind of counter reaction.

As far as I know from reading literature, homosexuality is a natural declination. The only thing different about homosexuals is that they like people of the same sex. The fact that these people have the right to live their life the way they want is not a topic for discussion. I for one am tolerant when I see that a homosexual by the name of X lives with another homosexual Z. Let them live together if that is what pleases them. But when all of sudden people start calling their natural declination a movement, no matter how tolerant I can be, to be honest with you I get a counter reaction. I support the idea that homosexuals form a part of the social life like others. But I am against using their place in society as a means of propaganda, or turning that into a show as it has happened in Europe and America. This is already called intolerance towards others.

Nowadays, people ask me what I think about the state registering of Jehovah’s witnesses. If everything goes according to state laws, then I have nothing to say about it. I look at that as fairly normal because this will put an end to all the rumors being spread. If the newspapers do not write about it, if the television and radio don’t talk about it, then I and others forget about the fact that there are Jehovah’s witnesses. Perhaps my tolerance is simply indifference in this case and in the cases mentioned above. These people find other ways of solving their problems connected with the spirit and physical qualities. Let them find the solutions. Who am I to be against all of that? Let them solve their problems while nobody hasn’t put up the signs and started debates.

Last week, I read the interview with leader of the Jehovah’s witnesses organization Hrach Keshishyan in the “ Haykakan Zhamanak” (Armenian Times) newspaper. The interview seemed normal at first, due to the fact that the leader was not making any judgments about the Armenian Apostolic Church and claiming it as a place for burning incense or lighting candles, or considering the churches as a “sample of high-level architecture and art”. If Mr. Keshishyan says that they consider themselves Christian and the followers of Christ but they dislike the Christian culture of the Armenian people, or if they do not connect with architecture and art with God and our belief, that is already considered intolerance which will make way for a counter reaction. However, a question arises: “How logical is it to have religious sects if they remain silent, stay cooped up in their meeting halls and do not try to become a majority? After all, they have been sent to save us and they must do everything they can to carry out their mission. In other words, they must not tolerate our lifestyle and our type of people on the road towards implementation. In this case, tolerance is a lot like the diet prescribed by the doctor, which is not for curing, but rather to speed up the dying process. If that were not enough, we are extremely tolerant because history has caused us to lose our values and what we are doing now is not choosing good from bad, but rather bad from worse.