Posted by Jeff from LTU-207-73-64-170.LTU.EDU (207.73.64.170) on Friday, March 22, 2002 at 4:56PM :
Shutting Down Assyria
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Beth Suryoyo Assyrian (Othuroyo) Forum
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Written by pancho on 22 Mar 2002 15:30:21:
Nothing would be more tragic than to have people abandon these forums, as is always posed as a possibility, because the subject at hand has been expanded too much. People who are dedicated and love this Heritage should not be discouraged if unfamiliar topics or directions are brought up.
I'm accused everywhere of being an Iraqi or Turkish or Muslim agent...that I am an enemy of the Assyrian Nation...yet shutting down dialogue is the last thing I want...if it were I would be as pleased as hell if these forums all shut down in fright. That would be a tragedy...but the alternative is not just to enage in meaningless doodles year after year.
We are in serious need of a revival and I don't mean under a church tent in a field somewhere. Business as usual for us will spell more disaster than we can bear. If we are not progressing, we are sure as hell sliding backwards...you don't stand still in Life. We are losing ground daily...something I would just stand back and contemplate with satisfaction if I was the "enemy" I am made out to be.
If the Arabs could leave Israel alone for ten years the country would implode from the forces bottled up within that would burst out if there were no enemy out there. The same is true for us...we are chopping ourselves into increasingly smaller chopped liver...there isn't much an "enemy" could do to accelerate the process. Leave Jackie Bejan and John Nimrod and Atour and the Ganjettes alone and they are doing a fine job all by themselves. The spectacle they provide...the treatment they mete out to our artists, to our young people is enough all by itself to finish us off utterly.
It is not from the part-time and amateurish endevors of a self appointed pack of hellhound Leeders that this Heritage will be saved. We need to create an atmosphere among ourselves conducive to growth...and that will require far less micro-management than these people demand. Their agenda is one of self-seeking, self-service using our own love of Heritage and timidity against us.
If I were indeed an enemy, I'd just have gone about my own business and left the stage clear for them...as I would have at any time in the last 20 years. We are our own worst enemies...everyone knows that...no need of any agents or spies...we rot from within.
No one...no one in this country or in Europe or Australia stands in our way. No one blocks us from engaging in any efforts to enhamce our standing in the world...to teach our language, to create a true culture, to build buildings, to have orchestras and theatre groups. And it isn't true that we are too poor to do any of this...we have enough people that if we had any kind of real leadership, we could pool our resources together, acting in a civilized manner which would draw people back in, and we could fund any number of Assyrian or whatever projects.
There are enough Assyrians in Chicago alone that if each one gave the cost of one lunch a year...we would produce a good sized fund to at least begin. That will be our only hope. The trouble is our Leeders don't have the vision or the skill or desire to work to achieve that goal. No sooner was the money compiled than some Leeder would wonder why the fund couldn't be used to propel him or her to the forefront of the community...why make a "star" out of someone else etc.
The failure is in us...the proof of that is the kind of people we allow to speak in our name.
--Pancho
-- Jeff
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