MORAL GAP IN ARMENIA
Garo Kapikian

Eurasia Review
April 12 2010

Just recently, a dear friend of mine, who is originally from
Armenia, went back for a visit after being out of the country for
16 years. His observations were similar to mine after my last trip
there in October 2007.

The country has improved immeasurably under Presidents Kocharian and
Sarkissian. I wrote an article in 2000 about how the situation in
Armenia was bleak. Now, thankfully, construction abounds. The city
center teems with activity and ostentatious displays of wealth by
people driving expensive European cars. The center "Gentron" of
Yerevan is rich. However, the rest of the country is not.

My friend, who is a former soldier in the Soviet Army, took his father
to the "Gentron" in Yerevan for medical treatment because the latter
lives in Kapan, a small city in the southern part of the country,
where medical care is relatively primitive and/or unavailable.

While waiting with his father, my friend observed a poor woman enter
the facility. She needed medical treatment of some kind but had no
money to pay for it. She was told to come back on another day. She
protested, and said that she had already been there several times
and was always told the same thing. The woman pleaded that she lost
her only son in the fighting in Karabagh years earlier, that she had
no husband and no money. Her pleas were met with the same heartless
response.

Not one to hold back his feelings, my friend, a decorated veteran
from the Afghan and Karabagh wars, harshly and colorfully scolded the
clinic employee and told her that she ought to be ashamed of herself
for turning this woman away. That changed everything. The woman was
promptly given medical attention.

My friend and I came to the same conclusion. There are lots of
restaurants, cafes, and fun things to do in Yerevan. Things have
changed, but people’s attitudes toward each other, especially those
who have money toward those who do not, have not.

This is especially disappointing, especially given the fact that
just 10 or 12 short years ago, everyone in Armenia seemed to be poor,
including those who are now rich and looking down on everyone else.

One would think that as human beings, and especially as Armenians who
were poor themselves not too long ago, but through the generosity of
others, namely those in the Diaspora who donated medical supplies,
food, and money to Armenia during their darkest days, that they would
take these kind gestures to heart and pass them along to their less
fortunate brethren.

There is still a moral gap in Armenia. Morals cannot be legislated.

They must be instilled and inspired by parents and teachers.

When those two fail, as seems to be the case in Armenia for whatever
reason, the Armenian Church must step up to the plate and aggressively
preach patriotism and Christian morals and values in the name of our
heroes and saints.

But then again, how can we expect such an institution to do this when
its top leaders behave no differently?