THE SECRET OF ENDURANCE
RAZMIG B. SHIRINIAN

Asbarez
Apr 9th, 2010

Rarely an organization, consistently hard at work, finds time to recall
its destiny, take pride of its accomplishments, evoke and celebrate its
undertakings, and generate public enthusiasm and support. Ever since
its founding in 1910, the ARS has staged the priority of practice
and labor over rhetoric and publicity. Carrying on a multitude of
tasks and missions, the organization has been moving along with the
Armenian fate and reflecting on its history for a century.

Honored by the regional executive’s invitation to reflect on the
centenary of ARS, I first recall and invoke Simone de Beauvoir’s
classic book, The Second Sex, which offers a systematic feminist
critique exploring the perpetual inequality and violence linked
to masculine cultures and representations. Beauvoir convincingly
discloses the argument that inequality and violence are not fixed in
human nature or in biological differences, but are determined by male
perspective and point of view. The missing truth in this perspective
is well captured by the Beauvoirian epitaph that "one is not born
but rather becomes a woman" in male culture. Her powerful analysis
targets the male representation of the world which seems to clearly
resemble the Armenian culture of male point of view often "confused
with absolute truth."

A similar feminist musing appears in Betty Friedan’s The Feminine
Mystique about a decade later. Since Beauvoir and Friedan, the
counter-traditional conceptions of feminism have been expounded in
various philosophical dimensions ranging from Marxist-existentialism
to liberal-conservatism. ARS, a distinctively prominent and
task-oriented Armenian women’s organization, has its exclusive
approach on how feminism is viewed. It is the natural, constructive,
and predominantly service and relief oriented image that characterizes
the organization. It also carries an "Irenist" label, from Irene, the
goddess of peace, without however, much sharing with other feminist
organizations a critique of masculinity and patriarchy.

The Armenian Relief Society is the epithet of service and faith both
in Armenia and the Diaspora. I call upon the idea of founding mothers
of civil service to recognize the leading proponents of social justice
and ardent believers in relief of people in hardship. It seems that
the ARS has earned the emblematic status to represent what often
goes under-represented in our understanding of Armenian politics:
the profound role of infrastructure, construction and development,
love and faith in the struggle of national liberation and self
identification of the neglected Armenian masses.

The vision ARS shares is an alternative to the pervasive violence
inflicted upon us at the core of the Armenian political life. The aim
is clearly set: end social conflict and destitution through communal
settlements, persuasive and empathetic means. The means for ARS seem
to matter as much as the end since the method of giving and caring
expounds an existential meaning to relief. The ARS’s idea of service
best captures this sense of means as relief incessant, persistent
and in the making. The ideas of service and faith are reasoned in the
revelation of the will of the nation, the survival of collectivity,
and construction of cultural identity.

ARS does not, however, call for nostalgic or abstracted national
romance. There is the perennial concern for faith in relief effort
that can be used to bring up the real rewards upon others. Moreover,
faith and service are tempered by love not only for Armenians, but
also for the whole humanity. Consider the organization’s immediate
response and reach to human need globally. ARS refers to service as
the social force which is born of need and care. In its struggles
against conditions of injustice and oppression, this social force
echoes the proletarian ground work and reveals the organization’s
counter-traditional character with a pragmatic clout. ARS, thus,
embodies social powers of sacrifice, protective care, and, the most
valuable of all, the powers of protection extended to the ordinary
working people. It is a distinct social organization, dynamic in
its relations, and equipped with reciprocal powers of sympathy and
compassion.

These social powers of the ARS are practically applied through a
range of political actions: civil service, hunger and disaster relief,
poverty reduction, elimination of discrimination, and commission of
reconciliation and social justice. Both as a feminist and a social
organization ARS strives for a nation out of misery, a world without
war, and communities devoid of political, economic, and religious
violence. This means the organization must endure human tragedies,
ready to lay down all selfish attributes, and aim for collective
well-being. This is the secret of endurance ARS has carried for
a century.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress