Torch by ~nibbia

Last Sunday was a խաշ event at a friend’s house. This meal is not an ordinary meal but the one at his house was even more special. It was his son’s birthday but that’s not the only reason it was special. My high school friend graduated from MIT and left the Boston area for many years before coming back here a couple of years ago. The meal was also special because I left feeling very happy to see them in their nice home, established, with many local friends. Two or three weeks ago I had a similar feeling of satisfaction and deep gratitude to God for my brother’s success in establishing his family in this foreign land.

Last week I was also touched by a couple experiences at my friend’s place. Our friend who is a Bentley professor thought that given my experience and background, I should apply to Harvard or MIT to study for a PhD (she was probably being nice but it was touching). I believe I will enjoy teaching at a university as a way of growing and giving back but that’s a long journey. The first step was a conversation with her for which I was very thankful. It’s now up to me to try which I will do after teaching a course or two as adjunct faculty (assuming someone thinks I deserve such an opportunity). The second touching experience was an offer to join his company from another friend who has been making a living from his software business (shameless plug for a good personal finance software). He seemed quite serious and although I was extremely touched that he thought it was worth a try, unfortunately I had to decline.

Today something unexpected happened at church. In order to run the annual assembly where the parish needed to elect four new members to the parish council, eight candidates were needed. When asked last week, I agreed certainly willing to invest and give back to the church and our small but vibrant Armenian community. I did not expect that people would actually elect me. Now I am truly humbled by the experience and already feeling the weight of the responsibility to help carry forward the torch passed on by generations of upstanding Armenians to preserve our faith, our culture and all the good which makes us Armenians. I hope in hindsight they will be happy to have elected me and plan to earn that through giving of myself, growing personally in the process.

As if that was not enough, I stumbled upon this video where the son of our priest is conducting his high school choir. The song’s title is “Holy, Holy”.