Harry Terhanian.com

He beats the dog, but is bashful in front of the boss.

This proverb conveys the sense that a deceitful man when in a position of power will beat (or be mean and cruel to) a weak person or dependent. However, in front of an authority, the same person feigns bashfulness and humility.

Jesus tells the parable of the businessman who borrowed money from a king. As time went on the businessman did not repay the king. The king summoned him and asked why he didn’t pay back the debt. The businessman said that his affairs were not going well and he couldn’t pay back the money. The king forgave the debt as a gesture of good will.

One day a poor man asked the busnessman for a loan. The businessman loaned him money with strict stipulations for paying it back. As time went on the poor man was unable to repay the loan. The businessman seized whatever belongings the poor man had and had him jailed for nonpayment of the loan.

News of this event was related to the king who summoned the businessman. The king reminded the businessman how he had forgiven the nonpayment of the loan he had given him. The king said, “I forgave your bad debt as a gesture of good will, yet you do not forgive the poor man’s debt to you. You seized his belongings and put him in jail. Therefore, I take back my reprieve to you and seize your belongings as well as sentence you to jail for nonpayment of my loan. How can you expect mercy if you refuse to be merciful yourself.”

Gadoueen bohchuh pehrnen duhngadzeh, noren guhseh vor gadoun chee gerhav

The cat’s tail is sticking out of his mouth and still he insists he didn’t eat the cat.

janabareen hatzuh pehr cheh
ghdzavoreen latzuh shehr cheh

The bread a traveler carries is not a heavy burden
the tears of a deceptive person do not indicate real love

When I was student in Beirut, I lived in a part of the city called Ainum Rasi. It was mostly residential with a few bars.
I lived across the street from a bar which was a typical place that had an open door with red lights, soft music and one or two hookers always sitting on stools beckoning men to walk in. I decided one night to walk in and see the fun. A hooker immediately asked me to sit with her at the bar.
She put her hand on my leg and spoke broken French interspersed with Arabic. Then she put her arms around me and began to pant and make sounds like she was going to have an orgasm. Her eyes rolled and she asked me to buy her a drink so she could make love. I told her I didn’t want to buy a drink. She looked at me impatiently and then again did her little drama of near orgasm and said she wanted me to buy her a drink so she could make love to me. I said, why can’t we make love without buying you a drink. At this point, she flew into a rage and started shouting out all sorts of vulgar Arabic profanities. It got so bad, I walked out with my head spinning. She was so warm and inviting and then she became like a vampire spitting fire and insults. The tears (or exhortations) of a deceptive person do not indicate real love.

Love for money is not a tenable arrangement. It becomes an unbearable burden in time. Yet, a traveler that carries his bread for his journey does not complain knowing well it is for his sustenance. There are thus burdens of love and other burdens that are untenable. Parents toil to raise their children with love and sacrifice. Usually they do not complain of the burden. When there is no love, however, the burden becomes unbearable. Love and warmth makes the burden bearable and light and the lack of it makes everything oppressive and suffocating.

Soudeh soudeh soudeh amehn pahn soudeh
False, false, false everything is false

Ays askharhin vurrah amehn pahn soudeh
In this world everything is false

Oudeh khmeh bareh arantz mudhahdzeh
Eat, drink, and dance without ever thinking

Ardouh gannough ereghoun ehssuh bes kordzeh
From early morning to late evening, work like an ass

Giankuh inch eh chi kideh meedkuh yerpek chi kordzeh
He doesn’t understand what life is meant for, he never uses his intelligence (to understand)

Barab panov guh nedveh giankuh tzerken gantzehneh
Always wasting time with useless things, life slips through his hands

Oghin kuhmeh mees goudeh ghineruh guh khahtzouneh
He drinks liquor, eats meat,and chases after women

Kumar khaghalh guh seereh tuhramuh tzerken guh paghkeh
He likes to gamble, money slips through his hands like water

Azneev geeneen kar guhnedeh yerehkhaneruh hokuh cheh
He insults his good women and doesn’t care about his children

Tuhramee missht bedk ouneh khapehpie muh yegher eh
Always in need of money, he has become a con (cheat)

Giankuh antzav deratzav klogheen tzaveruh shadtzav
Life has passed, he has grown old, but his worries have increased

Hivant doughour hoosahad kerezmanuh modehtzav
Sick, sad, and hopeless, he will soon enter the cemetary

Meg pahn keedeh jisht keedeh chee ouzer kerad luhseh
One thing he knows for sure, he will never listen to good advice

Meghk kordzeluh hokuh cheh asdduhvadzeen tem guynadz eh
He can commit any sin without embarressment, he is against God

Soudeh soudeh soudeh ahmehn pahn soudeh
False, false, false everything is false

Arantz sourp koghsk hedeveh souduh giankut guh deereh
Without heeding holy advice, falsity will misguide one throughout life

Soudeh soudeh soudeh amehn pahn soudeh
False, false, false everything is false

Mehdz dehreen kosghk merjehl anasounee bes merhnell
Rejecting the words of God, he will die like an animal

This is my own wording to an old country song that my parents and their friends would sing during family get togethers. They would sing a totally differnt wording that emphasized eat, drink, and be merry and don’t care about anything else. Why! Because everything else is false and only personal enjoyment is real. My wording stresses the importance of developing self-realization and gradual understanding of our relation to God.

The pursuit of material happiness without the cultivation of self realization will lead to misery and confusion in life. Happiness is always accompanied by misery. We work to be happy, yet misery comes anyway and we cannot avoid it. There is a saying in Arabic, “The One who made the door and the lock also made a key to open the door.” God has given us the manual of instruction how to live life successfully in His instructions through scripture. A successful life includes reasonable and dignified fullfillment materially while gradually developing steady love of God through compassion, and works of devotion. Eventually all material needs pale with the transformation of animal urges to genuine love of God.

Just the pursuit of gratification without self realization will lead to some happiness punctuated by misery and frustration. I experienced this when, as a young kid, I attended the Armenian picnic. I always looked forward to the Armenian picnics. They were a cauldron of tradition when I could see my parents and the elderly old country folks living their culture happily. I remember once I attended the Armenian picnic in the far Northeast of Philadelphia. It was a country setting and the one thing that still stays in my mind was the fresh herbal scent of cut grass, the warm summer sunshine with brilliant light, and the wafting of shish kebab odors. Mr. Mugherditchian was the master kebabji who labored over a metal rectangular box full of glowing charcoal and many scewers all turning mechanically with chuncks of meat dripping their fat on the hot coals. The odors of the cooked flesh was intense. Mr. Mugherditchian was a short but very sturdily built man. He had an apron over his tanktop undershirt with no sleeves. You could see his strong body. He frequently used his handkerchef to wipe away the tears and sweat while laboring on the spinning spits. Every so often someone would insist he down a tumbler of ohghee (or whiskey). He had a very nice wife and two boys, Roger and George, who were excellent Armenian musicians. His boys struck up a tune called Laz Bar. This is traditional music of the Laz people of northeastern Turkey. Mr. Mugherditchian motioned to his wife to come. She seemed somewhat embarrassed, then she rushed to him like a young girl. They stood side by side, she was on his left. He put his arm around the back of her waist and held her upper hip tightly. She did the same to him. She placed her free hand on her hip next to his and he raised his free hand in the air with his handkerchef waving like a flag. Sometimes he held his free hand behind his neck for a short while then began to wave it masterfully. My heart jumped to my throat seeing them together like that dancing as one body to the old country music. They began their intricate steps moving sideays together with steps and little hops, then going forward together with steps and a big hop, then backtracking in unison with the handkerchef waving madly. They were an older couple, but now they were dancing like young gazelles so perfectly in step with the intricate beat. They seemed to gain energy in the backstep and amazingly did half turns in the backstep so as to orient themselves in new directions. They covered 360 degrees to face all the excited onlookers who were clapping and really enjoying this rare treat of husband and wife dancing joyfully.

When the music ended the Mrs. let go of him and made a gesture that she had enough of holding him and ran back to her girlfriends that were looking on laughing. Mr. Mugherditchian wiped the sweat off his brow with his handkerchef and contemplated his kebabs. Just then something happened that amazed me. My dear cousin Jimmy Vosbikian came running behind the old man in a drunken frenzy and let out a really loud whistle as he grabbed him from behind and wrapped his arms around his chest. Jimmy lifted Mr. Mugherditchian and screamed his approval of the man’s dancing while holding him in the air in his wild bear hug. He held the old man for over thirty seconds in the air and let him down. Mr. Mugherditchian gave a strange and troubled look when he was let down. He seemed to have trouble breathing and clutched his side with a painful look on his face. Jimmy broken the old man’s rib in his embrace of appreciation. The old man was rushed to the hospital. The mood of the picnic changed from being happy and carefree to one of anxiety and shock.

Years later reflecting on this event I can understand that although we make every possible arrangement to be happy, still suffering seems to accompany happiness in a myterious and uninvited way. We do everything to be happy and still misery comes without our plans or expectation.
Inevitably it seems that happiness is accompanied by suffering as if they are partners forever.

One should rather sing, “false, false, false, everything in this world is false
for just when you think you are happy, misery will strike unexpectedly.”

He is pretending to be crazy (or a helpless simpleton) in order to eat the chickens at the monastery

The helpless, hapless and poor were offered charity at the Armenian monasteries which were often near mountain villages. There were some who feigned being mentally challenged in order to eat well at the monastery.

The crippled bed bug has already changed pillows seven times (or traversed seven pillows). People who are handicapped or feign being handicapped can cleverly and agilely perform tasks for their own benefit while claiming they are physically incapable of such actions. There was a television program that secretly filmed individuals who claimed work related injuries. During their supposed convalescence they were filmed playing sports and other strenuous activities. However, when they went for their regular medical check-up, they were seen limping along with crutches and walkers for support.