And what did you do?
An ugly question, right? This is an excerpt from a conversation in marshrutka (small in size public transport in Armenia). The driver, an old but somewhat kind and very energetic person, said that to one of the passengers of his age. There was a small conversation between these two, mainly about the driver’s bio, but then it suddenly erupted into a conflict about Karabagh. It was back in 2019.
He would continuously claim that he used his car for the military and told precisely how useful he was during the war. Finishing, he would ask by nature a rhetorical question, “And what did you do for Karabagh?” The woman didn’t know how to answer and said, “we struggled through ‘dark and cold years,’ and isn’t it enough.” For him, it wasn’t enough. His anger was understandable. He lived through many hard days, struggled to help and support his homeland, didn’t immigrate. Still, he remains a marshrutka driver with a very low income and no social security guarantees. This two-person conflict became bigger, and the elderly started responding to his rhetorical question. Each would tell their story, a tragic one, indeed. I was young. I was born after the war. I didn’t have a story. I didn’t need to justify myself, but I also think that others didn’t need to justify themselves, too, simply because countries, not nations, win or lose the war. It is not individuals but also them. It is not citizens but also them. It is not the nations but also them. It is mainly the state with its institutions.
From time to time, I remember this driver. I think, this time, what did he do for Karabagh? Was he able to do anything at that age? Does he feel guilty as all of us do? For me, these are also rhetorical questions. As a nation, we sacrificed everything, and it was genuine, but as a state, we failed.
Lies have a destructive power. Thanks to that power, now, I also have a story. I attended the funerals of my friends and acquaintances, saw their parents, experienced a tragedy. As a nation, we did everything to avoid it. We all lived with a below-average income rate, insufficient social security guarantees, and work conditions. We all had agreed to live worse but have an immune security system. Every time we would raise our voice about these issues, from the high cabinets, we would hear the justification of spending money to modernize and equip the army to guarantee our security. Now that this justification has trembled and fallen apart, there is a need to find a way to move forward, creating a more open and transparent governing system with checks and balances. Lies have the potential to kill, and they killed. Complete honesty of every public official is a requirement to be put in the job description.
