Andre from America: Leaving For Yerevan to Become a `National Hero’
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23:47, August 5, 2012
By Edward Mirzayans
Andre finds himself sitting in a café near the opera house in Yerevan.
He is dressed all in black, and he places a pack of cigarettes on the
table.
I ask him if he smokes, he tells me that the only reason he carries
the pack of cigarettes around is to blend in with the locals. He
looks like a local, but in fact he is a young kid from America looking
to start a new life here in Armenia. His journey to Armenia began six
months ago when he was thinking about where his life had led him, and
where he wanted to lead his life.
`If someone said I was a villain or a hero, they will read this, and
may or may not change their view. To this day, I do not know if I am
the villain or hero. It is possible I am both. But from looking back
on things I have figured out my true destiny, which is God’s plan
himself.’
Andre, like many other Armenians who have come to Armenia, grew up in
Glendale, California. He had a decent job that paid for his car, his
exotic pets, and the apartment he was living in. He had a girlfriend
who loved and supported him. He was going out and enjoying life with
his friends, like any other twenty one year-old, but yet, deep down,
he felt something was missing in his life.
Andre had a lifelong dream. Throughout his young life, Armenia had
been calling out to him. Armenia, however, was a land that seemed to
be far out of reach for Andre. He told me, `There was a magnetic pull
of coming to the land that I had no visual picture of, Armenia.
Music, my favorite cartoon shows, even some of the amazing leader’s
autobiographies awakened me. I can’t put a date on it, but at that
moment, destiny arrived. I saw an advertisement for the vehicle that
would take me to Armenia; a volunteer program that sponsors adults for
maximum of a year in Armenia.’ Andre found his golden ticket, and
with that he was going to change the course of his life forever.
>From that day, Andre began to plan his escape. He kept his plan a
secret until his journey to Armenia was set. He wasn’t sure if
exposing his plans to the people around him was the right or wrong
thing to do. He just knew that those around him needed to be aware of
what he was planning. As he slowly began to reveal his plans to those
around him, Andre quickly began to realize why he needed to escape.
He was surrounded by doubters and people who lived in a bubble of self
comfort. He was told by his fencing coach that `You have no idea where
you are going, you are so lucky here. I lived there for so many
years. Just go there once a year as a tourist, send money to a
charity, and that’s good enough, you don’t have to live there.” And
his grandfather told him “I too tried to do the same thing, it didn’t
work. When I got there, someone asked me why I came here, all I said
was I just want bread and cheese, and I will be happy with my life
here. You will never find cheese here, I promise you.”
His father tried to do the same thing by going back to Iran, but he
was spoiled by the American lifestyle and ended up returning back to
the States. Andre didn’t have good examples to go by, but he knew that
his journey to Armenia would be different.
The last month before his departure to Armenia was his most stressful.
One by one he told his family members goodbye, and though he didn’t
have a close relationship with any of them, he still found it hard to
say goodbye. Andre revealed to me that, `My family wasn’t exactly a
family, everyone hated each other, and they lied, cheated, and stole
from another. I’m sure there are worse families, but I’m not sure if
this even qualifies to be called a `family’. I have always been a
smiling, innocent, gullible guy. So I eventually fell for some of my
relatives saying that Armenia doesn’t have hot water in most places,
and electricity is a luxury. With that in mind, and my innocence, I
believed it.’
He went on to tell me, `Me being a spoiled American, I wasn’t sure if
I could handle that on my first day. So I conditioned my mind and
body for the new life in Armenia. Ironically, I believed God had the
same idea. My crappy childhood, my dog dying in my arms, being
raped/molested/abused, and much more played a major role in `shaping’
me to be able to endure what I endure now, and the journey ahead. I
stopped paying my water and power bill, so I went 60 days without hot
water and electricity in my apartment. I slept in my car a bunch of
times, shivering in the cold, to prepare myself to sleep
uncomfortably.’
Slowly Andre began to cut ties with his life in America. He had made
up his mind that he was never going to go back. He maxed out whatever
credit cards he had, buying items he always wanted. He gave his cat to
the local animal shelter, and he took his exotic pets to the local pet
store. His fish were thrown into a garbage can where he watched them
die. He told me at that moment he didn’t have the desire to smile
anymore. He faced the fact that he would never see his grandparents or
other relatives ever again.
The night before his departure, he told his soon to be fiancé goodbye.
He knew that it would be the last time he would see her face, and he
spent his final hours with her talking to her about life and the
meaning of what he was doing. He said his goodbyes to his tearful
girlfriend and returned to what was now an empty apartment. As he put
it, `I stepped into the door and resumed packing my bags to fulfill my
destiny.’
He spent that night at his mom’s house who he hadn’t spoken to for
over six years. But for his trip to Armenia, he made peace with her.
She had told him that he was never her child. It was a statement that
still haunted Andre, but in the end, he was glad to have made peace
with her. Andre spent his final night in America sleeping in his old
room. He remembered that he kept a journal; he wanted to find a quote
he had written ten years ago. He told me he found the journal and
flipped to the page where he had written, `I want to run away from
home.’ He said the quote gave him goose bumps. He showed me the page
that he tore out from his journal. He still keeps it in his wallet.
He is now in Armenia trying to find himself. He always asks himself if
the innocent, smiling, loveable gentlemen is still somewhere inside
him. He still doesn’t understand why certain events in his life had to
happen. Why they taught him to be cold, to lie, to cheat, and to
steal. He still struggles with those questions. He told me, `One girl
asked me in Armenia, `Is your soul sad?’ I believe it is, but I am
still that person. Another girl asked `Are you running away from
home?’ I smiled, but that wasn’t the reason, I was moving on with my
life. These traits have been acquired in my life because God made it
so. If it weren’t for those negative events, how would I survive for
the events to come?’
As our day comes to an end, Andre gives me a small smile. He doesn’t
look like the broken young man he told me about. He sits with
confidence, like a person who knows how his life is going to turn out,
and indeed he has planned his life leading up to his death. Before
departing, he left me with these words,’ I will be the National Hero
of Armenia. I have my plan written in stone. This journey ahead, to
climb through the ranks, to go through the politics, to lie, to cheat,
to be cold, these are the traits I need to acquire greatness.
Alexander the Great has always been my hero, I wondered how someone
could be on par to him in this modern day, and now I see the road.
All of this, this was merely the first step on my road to greatness.’
(Edwin Mirzayans is an American-Armenian from Washington D.C.
currently living in Armenia. He is a published author of two books:
“The Unknown Thoughts Inside My Head,” and “The Bubble”)