Posted by pancho (148.244.221.75) on January 20, 2002 at 19:39:39:
This isn't easy for me...I shy away from leadership roles like they carried leprosy with them, and I promise you anyone who expects to be hand fed by me or shown any "way"...will be terribly disappointed...and had it coming too.
What I am trying to do is announce the first...I don't know what to call it without cringing because it sounds too close to what the rest of these turkeys from Turkey claim to do. We need to get together, physically...not just over keyboards and telephones...but eye to eye, mano a mano...look deep into each others bleary eyed orbs and ask something like..."What Now?"
It is as clear as it can be that something drastic needs to be done...to be begun...to at least be formulated...at the least a direction has to be pointed out in which each of us in our own ways, or together in small groups...can do something for this magnificent Heritage that lies gasping and bleeding at our feet...stomped there at last by those who claim to be loving it...even to death.
I don't want it expiring on my watch...not in my lifetime. However it got this far and it has been a long long journey for our history didn't end with the fall of empire, indeed our more compelling story may may yet to be told...it can go no further without serious consideration and some effort made on its behalf.
So...I want to announce the first...get together(????) to discuss our Assyrian Heritage in the Modern Era...where it stands...maybe a little bit about why or how it got here...but mostly on what can be done to revive it...among ourselves and in the world at large.
There will be NO manifestos issued, no "papers" ponderously dumped on anyone's doorstep...in fact the entire proceedings might just remain private and undiscussed for now...or only as we decide to do it. I don't really know...the ground rules would have to be set by the whatever you want to call them who might come.
I offer my Sleeping Dog Ranch and Comfort Station here in San Miguel de Allende...one of the loveliest colonial Mexican towns in the entire country...a national landmark. The ranch is ten minutes from town...great views, peace and quiet...ten horses and saddles and trails all over the place...i can show you where Pancho Villa, my namesake, fell off his horse because the HORSE was drunk etc.
We will have a huge fire pit and sit out at night under a brilliant sky till late sipping water and chatting about you name it. There will be an extra bathroom and we can all sleep on the floor as we did in the old country...men upstairs, women and me downstairs.
It would take plane fare and a short taxi ride or we could pick up a few at a time. Food would be provided and housekeeping done for you. I don't know what else to say...never done such a thing and never ever dreamed I would do such a thing. I think we should limit the first one to invitation only as there isn't much room and we need to start small.
The town has excellent accomodations for those not wishing to sleep with me.
What do you all say?
p.s. I have to be president.