Fascists... Denying the Holocaust... Denying the Armenian Genocide... and the Holodomor...

Denying the Holocaust... Denying the Armenian Genocide... Denying the Ukrainian Holodomor and covering up the Chernobyl disaster...

Is to prolong them...

I am not in the mood to do anything these days... I am unable to free myself from the memories of my childhood and the stories of my parents... The horror that they went through and the atrocities that they witnessed... The Turkish soldiers opened a mothers womb with a bayonet... They burned Armenian children and women who took shelter in a church... They burned the church and the people in it... They beheaded intellectuals... and these beheadings were way before the Islamic-Fascist-jihadist... groups swarming the Middle East at present... They smashed the heads of intellectuals... with rocks...
The stories of my parents rush back to me and I cannot do much... other than the routine...

***

Armenian Genocide was commemorated even in Istambul, Turkey...

In Hydarpasha Train Station, Istanbul... Demonstrators, Kurds and Turks and Armenians... demanded; "Recognize, Apologize, Compensate..."

.......................................................

...And my student-friend, now a math teacher... just like me...

I hope you're doing well today... I was just reading your blog post for today before bed and I thought of a conversation I had with my Nene last Monday. I went over to spend some time with her, and while we were eating dinner we starting talking about what was going on in the world. She went on to the topic of what is happening to the Armenians now in the east and became very emotional. Her parents were also genocide survivors. She was very broken hearted and was asking why all these things happen to us, and why we keep waiting for God to help us when it's clear that the help isn't coming. I'm not a big fan of seeing my family upset, so that obviously upset me as well. I started talking though and my thoughts took me in another direction than disappointment and despair. I told her that I believe God loves the Armenians. He has as much faith in us as we have in him. That's why he doesn't feel that he needs to help us. He knows that whatever we go through, whatever we experience, we will be strong and not lose our faith. That's what he wants in the end. If we feel pain, if we die, in the grand scheme of things it is nothing. Life is just a drop in be ocean of eternity. Those of us who we think were not fortunate enough to survive, they're in paradise right now! They are where we want to be! In my heart, I don't mourn for my family who were all murdered anymore. I've moved beyond that. They are happy where they are, and they've left behind a legacy of courage in the face of death and faith at all costs. What I mourn for now, April 24 and every other day, is that there are people in this world capable of committing these horrors. It makes me sad that they will never experience the joy that those they have hurt experience for eternity. Slowly but surely, God is collecting the good people of the world, the faithful people. He is bringing them into his home. Your vision of a world one day at peace seems so impossible that this is my only alternative belief. All the light on the earth will be put out, eventually there will only be darkness left. This is how the world started in genesis right? Then the darkness will have no choice but to put itself out! THEN hopefully the world will get another chance. Another start. God told Noah that he would never send waters to wipe out the evil and punish humanity again...maybe this is his only option? That was a little bit of intense thinking before I go to bed now...  ha ha ha...

............................................................................

Aurora Award Ceremonies... George Clooney... and the Whole World... as a Stage...

In remembering the Armenian Genocide

***

 New York Times
April 25 2016

Orphanage Founder From Africa Wins Prize in Memory of Armenian Genocide
                                                                                           By RICK GLADSTONEAPRIL 24, 2016

The founder of an orphanage in Burundi who defied death threats and witnessed unspeakable violence as she saved thousands of children from ethnic slaughters in the 1990s is the winner of a new prize created in memory of the Armenian genocide a century ago.
The winner, Marguerite Barankitse, was one of four finalists considered for the prize, which was announced on Sunday at a ceremony in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
“No one can stop love,” Ms. Barankitse said in accepting the award from George Clooney, the activist actor, who was a co-chairman of the selection committee. “Not armies, not hate, not persecution, not famine, nothing.”
Vartan Gregorian, a prominent American philanthropist and scholar of Armenian descent, had helped lead deliberations over the choice of a winner since March, when the finalists were chosen from nearly 200 submissions.
Ms. Barankitse was born in Burundi, a central African nation where a tumultuous ethnic conflict pit her people, the Tutsis, against the Hutus.

... and George Clooney...

“Years before anyone uttered the word genocide, there was Armenia.  Although the actual world was yet to be introduced, we were well aware of its characteristics,” Co-Chair of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, Oscar-winning actor George Clooney said at the Aurora Award ceremony. “Cruelty has always been at the core, not self-defense, not simply war, but a deliberate destruction of an entire people. It happened to Armenians starting 101 years ago, and we’ve seen it repeat all over the world since – Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda,” he added. “I’ve first seen it in the broken families, the broken hearts of the people of Darfur. I’ve seen what mankind is capable of at its worst. But I’ve also seen something else, something much stronger than hate. I’ve seen bravely, kindness and incredible acts of love. Today we celebrate the best examples of that. The simple truth is that all of us  are a result of someone’s act of kindness,” Mr. Clooney said. “Hitler once famously said “But who today remembers the Armenians? The answer is “The whole world.”

Aurora Prize Finalists...

“By recognizing Marguerite Barankitse’s courage, commitment and sacrifice, I am hopeful that she can also inspire each one of us to think about what we can do to stand up on behalf of those whose rights are abused and are in most need of our solidarity or support,” Clooney said.

... And Reddit's Ohanian...

The founder of American Reddit social network Alexis Ohanian posted a note about the Armenian Genocide in his Facebook page stating that fighting for recognition will not stop. “101 years later and we're still fighting for recognition of the #ArmenianGenocide. We won't stop. Today is my birthday, living proof that #TurkeyFailed, and we as a people keep thriving all over the world. Thanks to all of those who endured before us, “Armenpress” reports, Alexis Ohanian wrote recalling that a year ago the history of his family based on the stories told by his father and Grandfather was published in “Reddit”. John Ohanian, grandfather of Alexis Ohanian,  tells: "The families of my parents were orphaned when the Turkish government cleansed the Armenian population in central Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. My mother was one of the refugees that marched out - many died including her brother and sister - through Turkey to Aleppo, Syria. My father's parents were murdered, in his presence, when the Turks stormed his town. A soldier on horseback was about to kill him with a sword when his friend told him to stop, because he was too young, and as only child, my father was then taken to an orphanage in Turkey and left there.

***

Chernobyl, 30 years later...

Ukraine Marks 30th Anniversary of Chernobyl Disaster...

The world's worst-ever nuclear accident occurred on April 26, 1986, forever poisoning parts of Eastern Europe and rattling faith in atomic energy production. A botched test at the then-Soviet plant caused a meltdown, releasing deadly radioactive materials that killed 31 in the immediate aftermath, and an unknown number, estimated in the thousands, from resulting cancers.  Humans poisoning the world... Human greed and reckless chase for profit is causing misery to many and profit to just few... Maybe we will be more civilized soon... The West and the East and the South and the North... are ruining the world and raping Mother Earth...  Soviet Stalinists and Western Capitalists... alike... Maybe my Ukrainian students will take the lead and turn things around. Maybe we will have sharing and harmony and peace...

A sign warns of radiation... inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone...

Pripyat, the epicenter of the nuclear meltdown... disaster... is now a ghost town... 

School books and a mask... side by side...

A photo showing the city of Pripyat’s main square and the “Energetik” cultural center before the disaster is held in front of the site today. Pripyat is now a ghost town. The city lies in the inner exclusion zone around Chernobyl where persistently high levels of radiation have made the area uninhabitable for thousands of years to come.

A tree grows through the floor of an abandoned gymnasium ... 

Dolls and stuffed animals lie in the Zlataya Ribka (“Golden Little Fish”) abandoned kindergarten...

And an abandoned ferris wheel is overtaken by trees in the former Pripyat city center.

***

Maybe relying on humans for peace and harmony is a futile wait for Godot...

Maybe magic and prayers are the only answer...

"Outside of belief in God, healing prayer might be the most ubiquitous religious practice that there is," Jeff Levin, professor of epidemiology and population health at Baylor University and the director of the study, said. "This might be one of the most prevalent forms of primary care medicine, and I don't say that lightly." When Americans experience health problems, they don't just rely on doctors and medications. A new study has found that most North Americans have turned to prayer to heal themselves and others. The study has found that about nine out of 10 Americans have relied on healing prayer at some point in their lives, with most of them praying for other people's health and well-being more than their own. The Study suggests that prayer may be one of the most widely used forms of medical treatment among Americans, rather than just a "fringe activity," Levin said. However, the study notes that most of those who use prayer for healing do so in conjunction with regular medical care.

***

The authorities in Geneva defend freedom of speech against the onslaught of Turkish president on European values...

Germany succumbed to Turkish pressures and charged a reporter and a TV comic for their ridicule of the Turkish president... But Geneva has remained firm in their defense of European values and freedom of speech...
I join with Europeans who are asking...

Turkey and Azerbaijan with their Islamist-fascist government to be kicked out of Europe instead of Europe succumbing to their fascist demands...
An Islamization of Europe and European heritage should stop!

Geneva, April 26, 2016 (AFP) - The authorities in Geneva have refused to withdraw a disturbing picture from an exhibit in which which demonstrators accuse the Turkish President , who was the prime minister at the time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being responsible for the death of a teenager Berkin Elvan... who was killed when Turkish police opened fire on demonstrators in Istanbul... The demonstrators were protesting government action which authorized developers to build high-rise apartment buildings and thus destroy the park... and the green space...