"Hye-guh-gun-eh but-vuh-gun-eh"  (if it’s Armenian, it’s honorable).  This is what I used 
to hear during my early years when the men were barbecuing Shish Kebab at an 
Armenian picnic.  But this hackneyed expression was how everyone felt about being 
Armenian during the early years of my generation.  And, true to form, in those days you 
never heard of an Armenian robbing banks, operating speakeasies, or committing any of 
the prevalent crimes that made the front pages of that era.  And this also included the 
depression years when things were really tough.


In fact, one never heard of Armenians getting divorces.  And though most families were 
struggling to make ends meet, very few went on welfare.  Welfare, in those days, was 
looked on as a desperate refuge of last resort.


However, time moves on and things have changed dramatically.  Those defiant and 
prideful "hye-guh-gun-eh but-vuh-gun-eh" days have become a part of our past.  And 
looking at today’s existing climate, there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance of it ever 
coming back.


When tomorrow comes and our young look at their past, as I am looking at mine today, 
they will remember broken Armenian marriages, Armenian clergy preaching Christianity 
in divided Armenian churches, Armenian political factions trying to recapture the 
momentum they lost when Armenia became independent, and scores upon scores of 
Armenians placed behind bars for crimes ranging from money laundering to murder.  Last 
year, on the West Coast alone, it was reported that there were as many as 5,000 
Armenians serving time for various crimes.  Quite a difference considering the fact that 
during my growing up years, when things were really tough, it was hard to find even one 
Armenian serving time.


I am certain that if any of our Armenian apologists got the opportunity they would blame 
all of our Diaspora ills on our decadent Western societies.  But as decadent as our 
Western societies may have become, by all recent media accounts, existing conditions in 
our newly emancipated Republic of Armenia don’t seem to be much better.  In fact, if 
only half of these reports are proven to be true, the moral conditions existing in Armenia 
today are considerably worse than here in America.  And at the risk of showing bias, 
which is not my intent, the majority of moral problems existing in our North American 
Armenian Diaspora today, stem from the newer arrivals rather than from those who came 
earlier.   But my basic message is not in one group being good and the other being bad.  
As I will attempt to clarify, the problem is with the orientation of circumstances that 
earlier arrivals had to contend with as opposed to the conditions confronting our new 
arrivals today.  And if we went even deeper to look at our historical beginnings, we would also find that the root causes of our problems are all intertwined.


The Armenians who escaped to America after the 1915 Genocide were looked down on 
as lowly foreigners.  There was very little employment, there were no government 
benefits in place, and they had to climb, for many years, up a mountain of discrimination 
before being accepted.  Our more recent arrivals, on the other hand, found a more liberal 
America with nondiscrimination laws in place, opportunities in education and 
employment, as well as legislated state and federal benefits for the underprivileged.  
Aside from the years separating the old and new arrivals, what they had in common was 
the fact they both came from oppressive states that gave them little or no freedom for 
self-expression.  Moreover, in both instances, they had been in one form or another, under 
sovereign rule since the beginning of time.


In summary, the older generations who came to America had to overcome fear, hostility, 
and discrimination while learning the ropes, and the later arrivals found themselves on a 
playing field with few barriers.  How would these two groups have reacted had their roles 
been reversed?


Because of our oppressive and sovereign past, Armenians both here and abroad are very 
prone to central rule.  Here in our Diaspora, our American side has adapted well to 
democratic ways but our Armenian side remains apathetic to the point of letting our 
Armenian church, Armenian political or the Armenian influence leaders which we are a 
part of, to take charge of our Armenian destiny.  While those in the homeland who dream 
of living in a true democracy, readily place their hope and trust in any carpetbagger who 
comes along promising salvation.  In short, where the destiny and salvation of our 
heritage are involved, all Armenians are also in the same boat.


Our only remaining chance of changing the forlorned destiny of our Armenian future will 
happen when we finally start exerting democratic muscle through independent, individual 
judgment.  The trick is to stop nodding, ‘yes’, when someone at the top nods, ‘yes’, and, 
‘no’, when someone nods, ‘no.’   I believe that we must stop nodding and start asking, 
‘why’?


The destiny of our Armenian future is in our hands and our hands alone.  Democracy is 
like an old iron pot rusting in the rain: Use it or lose it.


Joseph Vosbikian