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[ara baliozian]

A SERMON ON LOVE /Saturday, June 30, 2001
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Understanding is a more demanding enterprise than hating.
In hating, we use our instincts (which we share with all animals);
in understanding, we use our reason
(which may be said to be God’s or nature’s noblest gift to man).
Hatred is rooted in fear.
We don’t fear that which we can destroy, only that which can destroy us.
By explaining that which we fear, understanding allows us to deal with it more effectively.
Understanding thus enhances not only our spiritual and intellectual growth but also our ability to deal with the world around us.
Fear and hatred, by contrast, paralyze our intellect and our ability to deal with our adversaries.
Now, from abstractions to the world of things:
The Palestinians have been hating the Jews for half a century,
and we have been hating the Turks for twice as long:
result? Again and again we have failed to achieve our goals.
A writer’s function, Sartre tells us in his WHAT IS LITERATURE,
is to explain his readers’ situation in order that they may deal with it more effectively.
That’s what I have been trying to do.
Please, don’t hate me.
Or, as they used to say in the old West:
Please. Don’t shoot the piano player: he is doing his best.

[MadArmo]

Hovik jan, I think you missed his point...