Though we'd already lived in Paris for 2 years by then and I'd taken 4 hours of French every day, my French floundered in a roomful of Parisians talking a mile a minute.
Our hosts, a French General and his wife, greeted us warmly and made sure we had a glass of champagne from the butler. We were then introduced to some of the twelve people in the tall-ceilinged, elegant apartment living room.
"Ah, oui...elle est Americaine?" I was suddenly the interesting one at the party. Thankfully, the interest in my being American quickly waned and I was introduced to General Menu, a man who spoke quite good English. Relief.....at least until he started gossiping that his wife and daughter don't get along and why. The why was so personal, I felt uncomfortable and sorry for the wife on more than one level. There's a saying that the Americans don't like you to get too physically close, but they'll tell you everything about themselves; the French will stand with you in your clothes on the subway or at a cocktail party as they talk, but will never tell you anything personal. Not this general, he couldn't wait to air his family's dirty laundry with this American. I was grateful to talk English with him, but I was pleased when the champagne and peanuts part of the evening was finished and we were called into dinner. (Why the word for little things you eat with a cocktail before dinner is French, I don't know. One rarely GETS a real "hors doeuvre" in Paris. The hootier party, the less the hors deouvres, too!) I used to joke that, as good as French food is (and it IS), inviting people for 8:30 dinner and plying them with champagne and peanuts for an hour before the main event makes you so hungry for food that any dinner would taste way better than it is!
In Paris, the host and hostess don't sit at positive ends of the table like we do here. The hostess might, but a guest sits opposite her, and General Menu was at the end of the table. I was seated next to him and I was thankful for his English. We chatted about his brother who has a restaurant in Colorado (Menu is a good name for a restaurateur, I figured!), more about his wife and her badly kept secrets, traveling in America, and then we ran out of things to say...
I'm one who mostly wants to talk religion or politics. It's a curse! I know, in America the rule is it's not polite to talk politics or religion at a dinner party. In France (and at our house, here or there), that's pretty much all they talk. SO, as the hostess was clicking on the button I figured out was at her foot and which seemed to announce to the kitchen staff that a new course should be served, I thought I'd take a chance and start a topic.
"What do you think of the French deciding to acknowledge in the Senate that the Turks did commit genocide of the Armenian people?" (this had happened about a week before this dinner) Suddenly, my congenial, English speaking dinner partner turned cold.
"I think that was a VERY big mistake. The Turks here live like Frenchmen, they speak French! We need them politically and this was a terrible thing. The Armenians have much too big a lobby in this country and this was a horrible mistake!" uh oh.
I smiled. I thought. I hesitated. Then I went for it.
"I am of Armenian descent." mhm.
The man didn't speak to me the rest of the evening. Whether it was embarrassment or anger I will never know, but he turned to the person on his left and Z resorted to speaking bad French to the person on her right. Au revoir, General Menu, it was nice talking with you.
Walking home that night, I told my husband that I got a great gift that night. I learned what bigotry feels like, what it feels like to be insulted because you're of a particular race or nationality. I smiled the short walk home. All of us can intellectualize what it feels like to be Jewish or Black and faced with bigotry, not many of us can really feel it firsthand. I looked at it as a gift and I was oddly thankful.
It was Martyr's Day yesterday, April 24, a yearly remembrance of the 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey. I am not one who feels America must officially recognize it (Bob Dole fought for it every year he was in the senate), it isn't going to bring back any of those Armenians who died horrifying, untimely, unnecessary deaths, and Turkey's denial is a big reason the EU won't accept them. Good. They'll keep denying, but we know the truth.
In French or English, the Armenian genocide was very ugly, and something nobody should ever forget.
19 comments:
It is the forgotten holocaust.
Zin;
I'm Thankfull that you mentionned the Genocide of the Armenians with your VERY NICE and Lady Manner of script.
I'm more thankfull that by the same Script you well described the HYPOCRISIE of the
FRENCH BOURGEOISIE.
Yes; you'r absolutly right, and you were very well MIRRORED them their SALE HYPOCRISY.
These FRENCH BOURGEOIS are the sons and dauthers of the SAME French Bougeois of 1940 who collaborated Ideologically with the GRAND Fuhrur to deport the JEWS and Gitans to the DEATH CHAMBERS.
In Iran we have some 400,000 of Armenians,
The biggest Assyrian and Kaldanian MONASTER of the world is called GHARA KELISSA (BLACK Church), is in my region of AzarBaijan.
The Armenians and Assyrians and Kaldanians came to Iran because of the Permanent Ottaman Massacrs during several decenies.
Howard Baskerville our American Iranian Hero Martyr was the teacher of the Armenian school girl of TABRIZ.
The French have too much deals with TURKY, for the ARMEMENT, in 15ieme, et 16ieme and Chemps-Elysée, there are many Hyper Rich Turks.
If you dine in George V, each night, you will see 1 Turk among 5 others.
The Turkish Government of all the times were and are HYPER FASCIST, and they repeat the same sevices with another Martyrized popullation of the KURDS, just like the Armenians.
Again Thank you Madame, In your heart, you'r a litle bit JEWS, a litle bit Armenian, a litle bit of all the humans who suffer from the injustice.
SAM
Thank you for this post, Z.
Your life amazes me, and I'm so thankful to have 'met' you.
Thank you, all. JM, you can say that again. As a matter of fact, Hitler is supposed to have said "Look what they did to the Armenians and nobody spoke up, who'll care about the Jews?"
SAM...I know you know much more than some of us about this subject and I thank you for your kind words.
Pinky...someday I'll tell you a lot more. Paris was amazing. Utterly amazing.
History has been one long series of "Holocausts" of one kind or another.
Most of History has been written in blood. It's been nothing but aggression, victimization, subjugation, enslavement, resistance, rebellion and death with a few blessed intervals of peace and productivity here and there.
The ONLY things we have to look back on with any degree of satisfaction or real justification for our existence are the works of artists, sculptors, writers, poets, dramatists, architects, composers, the great philosophers (a mixed blessing, I fear) and the Word of God Incarnate, which we have never fully understood, and have sinfully used as a springboard for further aggression, persecution, slaughter and injustice.
This country, though never perfect, WAS The Last, Best Hope for Man in Earth, until Industrialization quickly followed by Marxism derailed the mission of our Founding Fathers, and slowly-but-surely brought us to our present state of confusion and degeneration.
~ FreeThinke
Zin;
the most popullar Iranian POP singer is an Armenian Singer named ANDY;
He has singed a beutifull song with the dance of the Jolies Armenian girls in LA, you can download it, and see to what looks like An Armenian Persian clip.
http://www.radiojavan.com/music/video/andy-daram-miram-beh-tehran
SAM
Z,
"one death is a tragedy, one million, a statistic" . . .
Joseph Stalin
This terrible quote from Stalin really recognizes not a statistic,
but the incomprehensible. This from a man who was responsible for millions of deaths.
For you Z, and your family and ancestors, it is most certainly comprehensible. Genocide was all too real for those who suffered and died, and for those who survived, having lost their cherished people, and a culture so deeply wounded.
For those of us who have lived in safety, it is difficult to imagine the sheer terror of such an inhuman act. History is so replete with such horrific acts we must admit, it really is not inhuman at all, but all too human. Those who will not recognize evil, make it possible for it to thrive.
God bless you and your family Z. That they chose long ago to come to America, is our good fortune.
Pris
I feel like Pinky said - you have an amazing story. I am so enjoying getting to know you here.
Beautifully stated, Pris. Thank you.
••••••••••••
ALSO: In my list of those who've helped to make life worthwhile, I should have added the scientists who have earnestly sought the TRUTH (not politically-motivated Government, and Foundation "grants") and the biologists, and chemists who have researched endlessly (often against militant opposition) in the early days of true scientific endeavor, and made great strides in the eternal fight against Disease.
~ Freethinke
The pages of human history are littered with episodes of peace in a mostly eternal war story. War is the normal situation. There has never been a time in human history where no one was at war with anyone. That's just the way it is.
I'm not so sure that's a bad thing. At least some warfare is justifiable.
The Turkish extermination of Armenians was not.
Pris, Karen..thank you for such kind words. It means a lot to me.
FT: I'm always glad to have you hear and appreciate your thoughts.
Beamish; definitely not
What an interesting read. Thanks Z. And as for the Holocaust - people today want to act like it never happened, but it did. So they can lie to themselves, but like the Bible says, your lies will find you out and the Holocaust is in the worlds face - forever.
Shabat Shalom.
1919, Armenian Genocide by the Ottamans
1940, Jews and Gitans Genocide by the Nazis
1992, Genocide of the Rouanda, Africa
2005, Genocide of the Irakians by the Islamists,
Look at this shortened Time table of Genocide;
Why, we should repeat the talles and the events which conducted to those Genocides?
One of those Genocides was enough to prevent the next.
So, Why, the others were not be prevented?!!
LOOK at the HISTORY, there is something common on all these Genocides.
READ the PRe-Genocide historic politics;
YOU will see that on all these Genocides, there was a long appeasement world wide politics towards the Genociders, and those Appeasement politics were always practiced by the most important and influent powers.
We can stop the next,
WE COULD ALWAYS STOP THE GENOCIDES;
We are responsible,
A man is responsible when he gets and is alarmed about the incomming disasters.
At the anniversaries of these Genocides and at any event, we should repeat and remember the events and warn the people about the incomings, Mayebe by these methodes, we can limit and stop the DIRTY APPEASEMENT POLITICS BEHIND THE DICTATORS.
NOW, a programmed Genocide is running in IRAQ,
Don't believe the medias,
From 3 years ago, an ethnic cleansing in IRAQ is transformed by the Islamists who are FUNDED, Directed and ordered by the Islamic power in IRAN to a GENOCIDE;
Here are the horrible figures below;
1,2 Millions Iraqis Killed
5 Millions Iraqi kids became Orphans
5 Millions of Iraqis are DISPLACED and living in the most harmfull conditions in the deserts.
40 % of the country has no water.
There is no Administrations of HEALTH, EDUCATION, in IRAQ
SAM
Well, Layla, as you know, the Armenians were the first Christian nation and that was part of the reason islamic Turkey wanted them OUT. Some of it, also, was that Armenians were the shop owners, doctors, teachers, etc....and Turkey didn't like THAT, either. There are still many who say the genocide didn't happen (of course, I refer to it as a 'near genocide' or I wouldn't BE here!), or that the Armenians were to blame. That's a popular theory and one that's being touted more and more these days!
SAM: We have liberals suggesting 600.000 to 1 million Iraqis have been killed in this war BY US!! What do you know about that? Thanks for the information! My grandmother at 9 yrs old walked in the desert from Turkey to Syria during the genocide...I know she saw a LOT. She was a marvelous woman who some called "Fragile" because, even in middle age, she wasn't fond of being alone....I said it was a wonder she was sane after what she'd been through, and kind, wonderful and loving she was. She NEVER shared the atrocities with her grandchildren. EVER.
SAM, we lived in the 16eme...next to the Place Victor Hugo, by the way! On the night of 9/11, across the street from our apartment (Ave Bugeaud), I saw men celebrating the attacks. They had people coming in their door and they would point to the television, gesturing, hugging, and talking happily. I went through EVERY channel to see if I was wrong and perhaps there was a soccer game on and that was the reason for their excitement, but no....most channels had the disaster in NYC. They were joyous over that.
Zin;
Official figures of the Disaster are what I wrote.
For the Civilian Deaths in IRAQ, we have never seen an American soldiers to make a CAR BOMBING in a BAZAR or we have never seen an American Soldier on Suicide Bomber.
American heavy air Bombing have resulted maximum 10,000 deaths, we can consider a maximum of 20% of Targeting or human Erreurs.
NO, the American Army do not put the Bombs, they make the huge mistakes, by leaving the Vulnerable people or the Districts without Protection, BUT, they never kill the People for nothing,
For all their AirStrikes, they make the maximum of precautions to beat sururgically, yes there are the mistakes, but the dailly deaths are done by the multiple death Squads.
Mayebe we can BLAME the BUSH Administration for supporting Al-Maliki's Government, because Al-Maliki is following Iran's Agenda.
Iraqi Police and Army is polutted by the presence of at least 40,000 of Badre Death Brigad's members who are directly connected to IRAN, in all the Massacres, the killers are scorted by the Iraqi Police and Army.
This is the political mistake of the BUSH Administration, But, the Americans never do the Massacres.
2 weeks ago, we had the Iraqi women on a conference in Ashraf, one of them was saying that, " If my Kid is arrested, I pray that be Arrested by the Americans and not the Islamists ".
SAM
SAM, is the feeling among Iraqis mostly good or bad about our soldiers? The Left here tells us Iraqi people want us OUT NOW...that they feel we're colonists there instead of fighting for them. What do you hear? I'm so glad we can ask you these questions and hear the truth from people THERE. thanks.
zin;
I have always wrote and reported on FPM what is really going on in IRAQ.
Do you remember that on the begining of the 2006 and the end of the 2005 I wrote that there is a plot against your Army in IRAQ?
If we(The Iranian Resistance) had not published the long list of the 32,000 of the QUDS Members inside the IRAQI Administrations, you should have at least 40,000 soldiers killed, ten times more.
You will never leave out from IRAQ, never, if Iran's Ayatollahs remain on power.
What they say the IRAQIS about the American Soldiers?
There are 2 Categories of the Iraqis,
first Category are a part of the shiit who have lived in IRAN during the Saddam and are completly and totally Iran's proxies,
They say what you hear there in your Medias,
I don't know which one copies which one, is the shiit repeating your lefties, or your lefties repeating the SHIIT??!!
But they use the same vocabullary about your soldiers and your current administration, these Iraqis were around 35 to 45% at 2003, but, they are less than 10% now, But, they are armed and governing,
Among these 10% of the Iran's Proxies there are different FACTIONS,
The biggest Faction is Al-Badre of Ayatollah HAKIM who has Al-Maliki's administrations in it's control, second Faction is Sadre's Death Squad, and there are 18 other Factions, all of them are armed and participate in the Genocide.
the second Category are the Iraqi Sunnits, and Iraqi Nationalists and Insurgents.
When we talk with them and ask them their feelings about the USA,
they say, We hate USA and BUSH, the current Situation is the result of the American Invaision and Bush's Politics, But, our First enemy is the Islamists,
This Second Category has made an Alliance with the American ARMY to fight with together the Islamism terrorism,
These Iraqis Blame you, but, they are in Coallition with the American ARMY against the COMMON Enemy,
Well in the North, there are the KURDS( 20% ) who can be very happy if Iran and Turky stop Bombing them everyday.
I'm sorry zin; but this is the Situation;
The poverty, No Industry, No JOB, no security and an extrem corruption of the IRAQI Government has created a hell for the people,
All the Money that the American TAX payers are paying for the IRAQ's Reconstruction is wasted in the hands of the Islamists,
The biggest error of your Administration is to put your ARMY in the second plan in IRAQ, it should be in the first plan.
A plan Marshal could work very well, but BUSH trusted the Shiit, and the Shiit are under the control of the Mullahs of IRAN.
Like that you wanted to liberate the POLONIA and you have supported a pro-Soviet Communist Government in POLONIA by hoping that one day, those Communist Polonaise will abondone the Soviets and will take care of the Polonia's interests.
SAM
SAM...it's all so ugly that it almost can't work out in any way but the mullahs winning Iraq for Iran.
WE are afraid of our Left so we don't do anything forceful enough to STOP the fighting.
WE are trusting the wrong people, according to you.
WE are spending more money than we can afford.
WE are losing our kids, the MOST important horror.
I don't know what to say. iran is very smart. we are being highly stupid, I think.
z
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