I’d like to tell you a story on a hot
humid afternoon in Virginia in 1980 I
was a little boy playing in the
neighborhood playground with my friend D
my family had moved from Boston a few
years before because my mom worked for
Voice of America the Soviet Army and
division as a broadcaster she’d seemed
worried lately I didn’t know that it was
because 52 American diplomats and
citizens some of whom she knew had been
taken hostage in Iran and what would
become one of the longest hostage crises
in history lasting 444 days I was just a
little boy unaware playing with D on a
summer day his family was from the
Philippines all my friends at the time
were non Armenian there were Cuban
Indian Syrian Irish Australian black
Saudi and I were playing on this small
merry-go-round
one of us would push it hard to make it
spin faster while the other would try to
stand up in balance without falling down
there was no one else around at the
playground except two older white boys
sitting on a bench there wearing denim
jackets and drinking something from a
paper bag and smoking cigarettes at some
point they approached us and one of them
asked me hey where are you from the
other kid laughed and said probably one
of those asshole Iranians
yeah his friend said come on sand nigger
were you from
I remember being dizzy from the
playground from spinning round and
around
I remember having no idea what an
Iranian is I remember looking up that
these boys were probably not much older
than me probably 13 years old but they
seemed like really big scary guys it was
the first time I’d been asked this
question where are you from never
thought about that before where am i
from being from somewhere had never
occurred to me as being something that
mattered I don’t know
from here I said
no you’re not one of them pushed me and
I fell against D not knowing what it
could be that they wanted to hear and
getting more frightened I said I’m from
Boston you know like you they started
laughing walked away a few minutes later
I suddenly felt something fly right by
my head the older boys had walked up a
small hill and we’re throwing rocks at
me and II there was a slide nearby the
cover of the slide was the shape of a
mushroom so Dee and I ran into it very
confused very scared I’ll never forget
the sound of those rocks clanging
against that metal one rock after
another making this terrible sound and
ringing in our ears and dni my friend
and I’m being scared and shaking but
somehow in our own innocent way being
protective of each other I’ll never
forget the sound of those boys cackling
and yelling why don’t you and your gook
friend go back to where you came from
losers probably didn’t last more than
five minutes but it felt like forever
when it was over I know as Dee was
crying a little and so was I they’re
stupid
he said yeah I said we went home and
never talked about what happened that
day and that day was the first time I
was told by my mom and dad that I’m
something called an Armenian even though
I was born in America it’s not that I
didn’t know we were Armenian exactly I
knew that but it never occurred to me
that that should matter one way or
another that was the first time I was
told that there are different types of
people in the world and that some of
those people hate each other
I remember being filled with confusion
and fear and this very strange raging
sense of injustice but I couldn’t
articulate it or understand it at the
time but that hot August day in Virginia
that was the day I swore to myself that
what I am before
anything else is a human being period so
what I want to tell you today about
corruption comes from that simple facts
that I am a human being flawed and
perfect just like all of you I’m
fatigued and frustrated by a society
that’s allowed itself to slip into a
coma of confusion and hyper
individualism consumerism nationalist
rhetoric corporatism a coma induced by a
lack of true ideological vision
complexity inclusivity compassion and
imagination now perhaps some of you are
going to disagree with the things I say
or that I’m about to say so let’s start
by agreeing on something there are many
good things happening in Armenia there
are productive good people doing
productive good things here so let me
say that again there are many good
things happening in Armenia are there
people saying if they’re only bad things
happening in Armenia well maybe but not
on any serious level and if there are
they’re fools but what I want to argue
here is that anyone who uses that to
believe the rest of us with the tyranny
of positivity is a more dangerous for an
obsessive focus on positivity is one of
the biggest signs of disconnection and
lack of depth the tyranny of positivity
is the oppression of spiritual and
intellectual honesty and complexity so
to be only critical about Armenia or
only positive about Armenia is just a
way of seeing what you want to see and
believing what you want to believe at
the same time I’m not making a false
equivalency here like so many of us do
these days oh come on there’s corruption
everywhere what’s the problem just look
at Trump look at Putin look at err dote
on their problems in any country don’t
be so negative such statements are empty
words they only deflect from the matter
at hand we are in Armenia we’re talking
about Armenia Armenia specific context
realities deeps
sheeted issues I kind of don’t give a
crap what it’s like in the United States
or Israel or Italy or China we’re here
and the realities in other countries
don’t lessen the truths the urgency the
depths of the many kinds of problems
right here right now this reality so
even though it’s unproductive to be only
critical or only positive if we take a
breath and think about history which we
so often forget we ignore it or we only
remember it when it serves our purposes
being so called critical is actually
always closer to truth being critical is
usually closer to the side of justice so
for example in the 1950s should black
people in America have just been patient
and grateful should they have just not
complained so much maybe a Martin Luther
King jr. and Malcolm X should just stop
causing so much trouble maybe women in
the early 20th century should have just
known their place and been more positive
instead of protesting and demanding the
right to vote and then there’s the
Ottoman and the Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire before 1915 maybe they should
have counted their blessings and minded
their own business instead of wanting
more dignity and self-determination I
don’t know maybe the genocide could have
been avoided with more positivity and
innovation it sounds absurd right so how
is it any different for the vast
majority of Armenians in Armenia but for
26 years have been left behind voiceless
against the plundering and disregard for
ethics they see around them whose
children keep dying in a war with no end
who keep emigrating in large numbers and
her being forced to accept a version of
capitalism that’s been broken and
wreaking spiritual and mental havoc in
the US and other countries for decades
the kind of corruption I’d like us to
think about is the kind that wears
people down on a micro level the
microaggressions in our everyday
interactions
that dream people psychologically
emotionally spiritually and so all they
have are complaints and cynicism which
then they’re blamed for having the
corruption that we tend to focus on at
the business state and institutional
level comes from the deeper everyday
corruption within each worker each
student and each parent it comes from
inside you and me it’s a psychic and
spiritual corruption and it doesn’t
matter whether it’s intentional or not
the corruption at the top is just the
institutionalized version of the more
private cultural micro forms of
corruption within each of us so I’d like
to just point out here that of course
I’m giving this talk in English
obviously and I’m not from Armenia
although I’ve been living here since
2014 I’m not a Repat I’m an expat and
how we use words and ideas is one of the
most important and telling things about
the health of a society part of the
corruption of critical discourse that
we’re facing today has to do with the
simplistic problematic misinformed ways
that diaspora and Armenians view local
Armenians and how local Armenians you
diaspora and Armenians and now both
sides think about what it is to be
Armenian and what Armenia should or
shouldn’t be both sides are to blame for
taking each other for granted ignoring
complexity not being completely honest
in their motives and interests and too
often being condescending to each other
such rigid and misinformed using little
room there’s no room there for
self-reflection self-questioning
inclusivity genuine growth progress we
can’t just point at corruption like it’s
some alien thing out there outside of us
having nothing to do with us so diaspora
and Armenians must have more rigorous
rigorous fresh and messy conversations
among themselves and so must Armenians
native to the Republic we all in the
Diaspora in Armenia have to talk
honestly about what we’ve been doing or
not doing for 26 years and about what
our vision is other than some shallow
early 20th century version of patriotism
what do we actually want for Armenian
society and the Diaspora startups wine
bars tourism NGOs those things alone are
not enough
at our core you and I what exactly do we
believe in what is it that we believe in
not as Armenians but as human beings a
monolithic uniform view about a country
is the fastest way to suffocate the true
potential of that country which is its
youth so I’ve been teaching at the
American you receive Armenia since 2014
it’s the reason I moved here I’d never
visited here before until I moved and
every semester or pretty much every
semester there’s a knock on my office
door and it’s a students usually from a
different department usually a male
student and they want to speak to me
privately they come to me very kind of
formally like we’re about to do business
or something and then they asked if they
they can talk to me privately and on the
surface they let these average guys kind
of tough guys they have the you know
kind of black jackets and the haircuts
and all that stuff and they’re usually
they study business or computer science
or something like that and I’m not
knocking those disciplines I want to be
really clear here there’s nothing wrong
with studying business and computer
science but too many young people and
especially men go into more vocational
fields because they come from a system
that too often makes them think that the
only thing worth doing is transactional
that makes money a system that no longer
values or invests in serious cultural
production unless there’s a profit now
of course people need jobs I don’t know
there anyone arguing and you were in the
world that people don’t need jobs I
don’t think so but the vibrancy the
health the exuberance of a nation and
the future of a nation doesn’t come from
jobs it comes from culture
that’s where it comes from the reason
you’re all proud to be Armenian is
because of the Armenian culture and I
think we’ve lost sight of that so every
semester some of these tough guys
students come to my office and they
awkwardly say so I heard about the
Creative Writing course you know
sometimes I write too oh yeah I say what
are you write they become really shy
they pull their chair a little closer to
me and as if like in a whisper like it’s
taboo they say well I write I write
poems I write science fiction I write
plays I write short stories or I don’t
know I just like to write it happens
every semester like a wonderful ritual
and it humbles me it moves me it reminds
me not to judge others so harshly more
importantly it reminds me that young
people many young people they can always
see right through a government’s
a society’s and their
parents there are young people
all there right here today there are
young people all around us who
intuitively know that what binds of
people to a nation ultimately is
something much deeper and more
intangible than jobs and money and
status they can get those things in
other countries too but the power of art
the imagination creativity critical
thinking and language now that’s
something that can turn someone from a
passive citizen into an individual armed
with the self-knowledge and depth to
reinvent him or herself and each time
you reinvent yourself truly discover
yourself and question yourself in your
surroundings that’s when you take part
in the reinvention and reinvigoration of
a nation and that’s when you crush
corruption so if there isn’t an honest
effort on a national and personal level
at self-reflection
then what does Armenia are mean is just
a place where people engage in various
transactions to survive or get rich
while waiting and planning for their
chance
to leave or it’s a place for diasporas
to live up some fantasy about a
romanticized homeland or worse it’s a
place for opportunists this is the
Republic of Armenia it’s not the
corporation or mall or startup or
fantasy of Armenia let’s remember that a
republic is a state in which supreme
power is held by the people and their
elected representatives in other words
you are the Republic you are the
Republic perhaps many people have
forgotten that or maybe people are just
really tired and they’ve started to give
up on that idea so the first step is to
reclaim who you are the citizens of a
republic are the Republic and must hold
themselves accountable first before
blaming others now that being said
neither I nor anyone else should claim
to understand or to truly understand the
daily indignities struggles problems
that people throughout Armenia or any
struggling country go through that they
deal with on a day-to-day basis no one
has a right to tell poor Armenians
unemployed Armenians disenfranchised
Armenians young Armenians to look on the
bright side be a more patient be
positive stop complaining you and I
complain or get annoyed if we don’t have
internet for a few hours if someone cuts
in front of us at the supermarket if the
taxi smells like cigarettes if the pub
smells like cigarettes if they screw up
our order at a nice restaurant or if we
lose our iPhones corruption and
government institutions education and
business starts and ends with the
corruption inside our own hearts if we
want to truly change a nation we have to
begin by changing ourselves and not in a
superficial let’s all be positive way
but by being honest with ourselves with
who we are about our own hypocrisy and
flaws and questioning our motives and
beliefs but how are we supposed to do
that what are we supposed to do one way
is by genuinely embracing four concepts
radical respect radical compassion
radical accountability and radical love
I don’t mean this in some new-age
touchy-feely sort of way this isn’t an
exercise in us feeling better about
ourselves
it’s about digging deep into ourselves
reflecting on who we are as individuals
it’s about having messy discussions and
being kind decent human beings before
being anything else just being a human
being accountable to yourself and to
others compassionate to yourself and to
others loving to yourself and to others
do you remember that can you remember
what it’s like to just be a human being
remember look there used to be a time
when we were just human beings but there
are forces in Armenia in the world they
count on us forgetting our humanity but
the mystery and the beauty and the power
of our humaneness is that it always
finds a way to shake us awake just one
of the days she was darkest so I don’t
claim to have any answers but I believe
that the path to a better society is
through tough questions not easy answers
and I believe the end of corruption in
Armenia doesn’t begin with die aspirins
or Outsiders or anything like that it
begins with you it begins with Armenian
citizens listening to each other
listening to young people and poor
people listening to those who feel
ignored and alienated listening to the
yearning and complexity complexity
inside your own hearts if we can
remember and we become thoughtful
ethical compassionate human beings I
think we’ll be surprised at how quickly
corruption will start to crumble maybe
we can start right here right now let’s
be kind to each other respect each other
have empathy for each other not because
we’re Armenians not because of someone’s
status or wealth not because you want
something but because you are something
you’re a decent caring human being like
those two little kids who protected each
other one summer day in Virginia because
they didn’t care about where they were
from we’re all human beings and deep
down in our hearts we all know a secret
corruption is for losers
[Applause]
humid afternoon in Virginia in 1980 I
was a little boy playing in the
neighborhood playground with my friend D
my family had moved from Boston a few
years before because my mom worked for
Voice of America the Soviet Army and
division as a broadcaster she’d seemed
worried lately I didn’t know that it was
because 52 American diplomats and
citizens some of whom she knew had been
taken hostage in Iran and what would
become one of the longest hostage crises
in history lasting 444 days I was just a
little boy unaware playing with D on a
summer day his family was from the
Philippines all my friends at the time
were non Armenian there were Cuban
Indian Syrian Irish Australian black
Saudi and I were playing on this small
merry-go-round
one of us would push it hard to make it
spin faster while the other would try to
stand up in balance without falling down
there was no one else around at the
playground except two older white boys
sitting on a bench there wearing denim
jackets and drinking something from a
paper bag and smoking cigarettes at some
point they approached us and one of them
asked me hey where are you from the
other kid laughed and said probably one
of those asshole Iranians
yeah his friend said come on sand nigger
were you from
I remember being dizzy from the
playground from spinning round and
around
I remember having no idea what an
Iranian is I remember looking up that
these boys were probably not much older
than me probably 13 years old but they
seemed like really big scary guys it was
the first time I’d been asked this
question where are you from never
thought about that before where am i
from being from somewhere had never
occurred to me as being something that
mattered I don’t know
from here I said
no you’re not one of them pushed me and
I fell against D not knowing what it
could be that they wanted to hear and
getting more frightened I said I’m from
Boston you know like you they started
laughing walked away a few minutes later
I suddenly felt something fly right by
my head the older boys had walked up a
small hill and we’re throwing rocks at
me and II there was a slide nearby the
cover of the slide was the shape of a
mushroom so Dee and I ran into it very
confused very scared I’ll never forget
the sound of those rocks clanging
against that metal one rock after
another making this terrible sound and
ringing in our ears and dni my friend
and I’m being scared and shaking but
somehow in our own innocent way being
protective of each other I’ll never
forget the sound of those boys cackling
and yelling why don’t you and your gook
friend go back to where you came from
losers probably didn’t last more than
five minutes but it felt like forever
when it was over I know as Dee was
crying a little and so was I they’re
stupid
he said yeah I said we went home and
never talked about what happened that
day and that day was the first time I
was told by my mom and dad that I’m
something called an Armenian even though
I was born in America it’s not that I
didn’t know we were Armenian exactly I
knew that but it never occurred to me
that that should matter one way or
another that was the first time I was
told that there are different types of
people in the world and that some of
those people hate each other
I remember being filled with confusion
and fear and this very strange raging
sense of injustice but I couldn’t
articulate it or understand it at the
time but that hot August day in Virginia
that was the day I swore to myself that
what I am before
anything else is a human being period so
what I want to tell you today about
corruption comes from that simple facts
that I am a human being flawed and
perfect just like all of you I’m
fatigued and frustrated by a society
that’s allowed itself to slip into a
coma of confusion and hyper
individualism consumerism nationalist
rhetoric corporatism a coma induced by a
lack of true ideological vision
complexity inclusivity compassion and
imagination now perhaps some of you are
going to disagree with the things I say
or that I’m about to say so let’s start
by agreeing on something there are many
good things happening in Armenia there
are productive good people doing
productive good things here so let me
say that again there are many good
things happening in Armenia are there
people saying if they’re only bad things
happening in Armenia well maybe but not
on any serious level and if there are
they’re fools but what I want to argue
here is that anyone who uses that to
believe the rest of us with the tyranny
of positivity is a more dangerous for an
obsessive focus on positivity is one of
the biggest signs of disconnection and
lack of depth the tyranny of positivity
is the oppression of spiritual and
intellectual honesty and complexity so
to be only critical about Armenia or
only positive about Armenia is just a
way of seeing what you want to see and
believing what you want to believe at
the same time I’m not making a false
equivalency here like so many of us do
these days oh come on there’s corruption
everywhere what’s the problem just look
at Trump look at Putin look at err dote
on their problems in any country don’t
be so negative such statements are empty
words they only deflect from the matter
at hand we are in Armenia we’re talking
about Armenia Armenia specific context
realities deeps
sheeted issues I kind of don’t give a
crap what it’s like in the United States
or Israel or Italy or China we’re here
and the realities in other countries
don’t lessen the truths the urgency the
depths of the many kinds of problems
right here right now this reality so
even though it’s unproductive to be only
critical or only positive if we take a
breath and think about history which we
so often forget we ignore it or we only
remember it when it serves our purposes
being so called critical is actually
always closer to truth being critical is
usually closer to the side of justice so
for example in the 1950s should black
people in America have just been patient
and grateful should they have just not
complained so much maybe a Martin Luther
King jr. and Malcolm X should just stop
causing so much trouble maybe women in
the early 20th century should have just
known their place and been more positive
instead of protesting and demanding the
right to vote and then there’s the
Ottoman and the Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire before 1915 maybe they should
have counted their blessings and minded
their own business instead of wanting
more dignity and self-determination I
don’t know maybe the genocide could have
been avoided with more positivity and
innovation it sounds absurd right so how
is it any different for the vast
majority of Armenians in Armenia but for
26 years have been left behind voiceless
against the plundering and disregard for
ethics they see around them whose
children keep dying in a war with no end
who keep emigrating in large numbers and
her being forced to accept a version of
capitalism that’s been broken and
wreaking spiritual and mental havoc in
the US and other countries for decades
the kind of corruption I’d like us to
think about is the kind that wears
people down on a micro level the
microaggressions in our everyday
interactions
that dream people psychologically
emotionally spiritually and so all they
have are complaints and cynicism which
then they’re blamed for having the
corruption that we tend to focus on at
the business state and institutional
level comes from the deeper everyday
corruption within each worker each
student and each parent it comes from
inside you and me it’s a psychic and
spiritual corruption and it doesn’t
matter whether it’s intentional or not
the corruption at the top is just the
institutionalized version of the more
private cultural micro forms of
corruption within each of us so I’d like
to just point out here that of course
I’m giving this talk in English
obviously and I’m not from Armenia
although I’ve been living here since
2014 I’m not a Repat I’m an expat and
how we use words and ideas is one of the
most important and telling things about
the health of a society part of the
corruption of critical discourse that
we’re facing today has to do with the
simplistic problematic misinformed ways
that diaspora and Armenians view local
Armenians and how local Armenians you
diaspora and Armenians and now both
sides think about what it is to be
Armenian and what Armenia should or
shouldn’t be both sides are to blame for
taking each other for granted ignoring
complexity not being completely honest
in their motives and interests and too
often being condescending to each other
such rigid and misinformed using little
room there’s no room there for
self-reflection self-questioning
inclusivity genuine growth progress we
can’t just point at corruption like it’s
some alien thing out there outside of us
having nothing to do with us so diaspora
and Armenians must have more rigorous
rigorous fresh and messy conversations
among themselves and so must Armenians
native to the Republic we all in the
Diaspora in Armenia have to talk
honestly about what we’ve been doing or
not doing for 26 years and about what
our vision is other than some shallow
early 20th century version of patriotism
what do we actually want for Armenian
society and the Diaspora startups wine
bars tourism NGOs those things alone are
not enough
at our core you and I what exactly do we
believe in what is it that we believe in
not as Armenians but as human beings a
monolithic uniform view about a country
is the fastest way to suffocate the true
potential of that country which is its
youth so I’ve been teaching at the
American you receive Armenia since 2014
it’s the reason I moved here I’d never
visited here before until I moved and
every semester or pretty much every
semester there’s a knock on my office
door and it’s a students usually from a
different department usually a male
student and they want to speak to me
privately they come to me very kind of
formally like we’re about to do business
or something and then they asked if they
they can talk to me privately and on the
surface they let these average guys kind
of tough guys they have the you know
kind of black jackets and the haircuts
and all that stuff and they’re usually
they study business or computer science
or something like that and I’m not
knocking those disciplines I want to be
really clear here there’s nothing wrong
with studying business and computer
science but too many young people and
especially men go into more vocational
fields because they come from a system
that too often makes them think that the
only thing worth doing is transactional
that makes money a system that no longer
values or invests in serious cultural
production unless there’s a profit now
of course people need jobs I don’t know
there anyone arguing and you were in the
world that people don’t need jobs I
don’t think so but the vibrancy the
health the exuberance of a nation and
the future of a nation doesn’t come from
jobs it comes from culture
that’s where it comes from the reason
you’re all proud to be Armenian is
because of the Armenian culture and I
think we’ve lost sight of that so every
semester some of these tough guys
students come to my office and they
awkwardly say so I heard about the
Creative Writing course you know
sometimes I write too oh yeah I say what
are you write they become really shy
they pull their chair a little closer to
me and as if like in a whisper like it’s
taboo they say well I write I write
poems I write science fiction I write
plays I write short stories or I don’t
know I just like to write it happens
every semester like a wonderful ritual
and it humbles me it moves me it reminds
me not to judge others so harshly more
importantly it reminds me that young
people many young people they can always
see right through a government’s
a society’s and their
parents there are young people
all there right here today there are
young people all around us who
intuitively know that what binds of
people to a nation ultimately is
something much deeper and more
intangible than jobs and money and
status they can get those things in
other countries too but the power of art
the imagination creativity critical
thinking and language now that’s
something that can turn someone from a
passive citizen into an individual armed
with the self-knowledge and depth to
reinvent him or herself and each time
you reinvent yourself truly discover
yourself and question yourself in your
surroundings that’s when you take part
in the reinvention and reinvigoration of
a nation and that’s when you crush
corruption so if there isn’t an honest
effort on a national and personal level
at self-reflection
then what does Armenia are mean is just
a place where people engage in various
transactions to survive or get rich
while waiting and planning for their
chance
to leave or it’s a place for diasporas
to live up some fantasy about a
romanticized homeland or worse it’s a
place for opportunists this is the
Republic of Armenia it’s not the
corporation or mall or startup or
fantasy of Armenia let’s remember that a
republic is a state in which supreme
power is held by the people and their
elected representatives in other words
you are the Republic you are the
Republic perhaps many people have
forgotten that or maybe people are just
really tired and they’ve started to give
up on that idea so the first step is to
reclaim who you are the citizens of a
republic are the Republic and must hold
themselves accountable first before
blaming others now that being said
neither I nor anyone else should claim
to understand or to truly understand the
daily indignities struggles problems
that people throughout Armenia or any
struggling country go through that they
deal with on a day-to-day basis no one
has a right to tell poor Armenians
unemployed Armenians disenfranchised
Armenians young Armenians to look on the
bright side be a more patient be
positive stop complaining you and I
complain or get annoyed if we don’t have
internet for a few hours if someone cuts
in front of us at the supermarket if the
taxi smells like cigarettes if the pub
smells like cigarettes if they screw up
our order at a nice restaurant or if we
lose our iPhones corruption and
government institutions education and
business starts and ends with the
corruption inside our own hearts if we
want to truly change a nation we have to
begin by changing ourselves and not in a
superficial let’s all be positive way
but by being honest with ourselves with
who we are about our own hypocrisy and
flaws and questioning our motives and
beliefs but how are we supposed to do
that what are we supposed to do one way
is by genuinely embracing four concepts
radical respect radical compassion
radical accountability and radical love
I don’t mean this in some new-age
touchy-feely sort of way this isn’t an
exercise in us feeling better about
ourselves
it’s about digging deep into ourselves
reflecting on who we are as individuals
it’s about having messy discussions and
being kind decent human beings before
being anything else just being a human
being accountable to yourself and to
others compassionate to yourself and to
others loving to yourself and to others
do you remember that can you remember
what it’s like to just be a human being
remember look there used to be a time
when we were just human beings but there
are forces in Armenia in the world they
count on us forgetting our humanity but
the mystery and the beauty and the power
of our humaneness is that it always
finds a way to shake us awake just one
of the days she was darkest so I don’t
claim to have any answers but I believe
that the path to a better society is
through tough questions not easy answers
and I believe the end of corruption in
Armenia doesn’t begin with die aspirins
or Outsiders or anything like that it
begins with you it begins with Armenian
citizens listening to each other
listening to young people and poor
people listening to those who feel
ignored and alienated listening to the
yearning and complexity complexity
inside your own hearts if we can
remember and we become thoughtful
ethical compassionate human beings I
think we’ll be surprised at how quickly
corruption will start to crumble maybe
we can start right here right now let’s
be kind to each other respect each other
have empathy for each other not because
we’re Armenians not because of someone’s
status or wealth not because you want
something but because you are something
you’re a decent caring human being like
those two little kids who protected each
other one summer day in Virginia because
they didn’t care about where they were
from we’re all human beings and deep
down in our hearts we all know a secret
corruption is for losers
[Applause]
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