For me, and I am certain for many others, this spring was a spring of changes, and I won’t be afraid to say it, but it was a revolutionary spring. It seems as though the month of April of 2016 for us Armenians is a month to live, struggle and be reborn. On April 2, 2016, we all woke up in a totally different Armenia where we set aside our minor and personal matters and dealt with an issue that is common, pan-national, supra-individual and a personal matter for all of us, that is, our fragile peace and the impregnability of our borers. All of us, regardless of age, position and geographical location, silently felt sorry for the deaths of our boys and reinterpreted our existence as Armenians.

Reinterpretation-this is the key word that the head of the Government of the Republic of Armenia uttered yesterday. “The four-day war forced us to reinterpret the work that we have done,” Hovik Abrahamyan said and called on everyone to double and multiply efforts to help Armenia become an efficient state. These were not just abstract and unaddressed words. These are words addressed to every citizen, especially public servants and people who are shaping their state and are responsible for the outcomes.

I would like to emphasize the word “result” because this was one of the unique speeches in which emphasis is not placed on plans, actions and desires, but tangible outcomes that each of us wants to feel in our country and for which each person must make an effort. How? Of course, the head of government reminded us about the paths, that is, cutting expenses that don’t have an essential impact on the real outcome. The Prime Minister also made things clear. Those expenses are the expenses for business trips, the expenses for representatives, renovation, official cars and more. However, all this won’t lead to the desired tangible outcome, if each of us, starting from the junior servant and ending with the high-ranking official, doesn’t reconsider his or her approaches. Are we really doing everything we can when working and for our state? Is this really the most that I can do? This is the major question that I gave myself when I read the speech of the head of government. I think it would be honest to say that I am not doing everything I can because often the conditions that we set for ourselves set restrictions on us. For instance, when a junior servant asks why he should do more than his superior, or why he should do something that is not part of his duties when he doesn’t get paid extra for that…In response to all these questions, I would like to bring up a small example. What does an Armenian mother do when her child is sick? She does everything. She doesn’t complain that this or that task is not her obligation, doesn’t complain when she “works as a mother” “extra hours”, and she helps the child recover with a supernatural love and diligence, without expecting anything in return. And so, let us treat our state as a mother would and do more than it seems that we can do, and I am certain that we will see the outcome soon. As Nzhdeh said, all that you have done for the Homeland is nothing if you haven’t done everything…

Julieta Matevosyan

Photo from the paintings showcased at the contest of the RA Ministry of Diaspora called “Homeland, this is how I see you”.