My Armenian grandmother came to this country in 1920. She didn't know her real birthday. In spite of that, she claimed Jan 1, 1900 has her date of birth. Such a date! The first date of a new century! As I look at this market with my stupid, amateur gaze, I'm filled with incredulity. I'm reminded of phrase that my immigrant remembers-the-Armenian holocaust-but-we-thought-her-crazy grandmother uttered from time to time: "You cannot cover shit with snow". It's a wonderful aphorism is it not? Appropriate to this market.
So I write this blog post in honor of my simple, uneducated grandmother and the power of words and wisdom that do not require an education in our Western civilization sense, but rather that which is acquired from living life in the raw and on the edge. My grandmother--Alice was her name-- was sold to the Armenian church at the age of 12 (mother died in in child birth, stepmother wanted no part or husband's progeny) and placed, as a slave girl, with a Turkish couple in Constantinople until she reached majority age. Despite her simple roots, she harbored great wisdom garnered from years of living in the raw and on the edge of physical, emotional and monetary survival.
Many of us are so enamored with the educational and cultural trappings of ourselves and our class, that we forget the simple wisdoms of authentic people who struggle with the everyday of task of surviving. As Thanksgiving approaches, let us remember those simple wisdoms from authentic people and contemplate what small kindness we can extend to soften the edges in their lives.
2 comments:
My family comes from about as motley a group of beaten upon peoples as you would care to collect. My personal favorite (as retold by my father)are the Danish Great-Grandparents who HATED the Germans for their part in the 1864 Schleswig-Holstein War of Succession. Apparently they were from either from Schleswig or Holstein and none to happy about the German take over.
The older relatives I have known are an absolute bunch of characters. I am not sure simple is the right word to use though. Opinionated seems more appropriate. I wish I was even half as interesting a person as they were/are.
Russell120--we will be that interesting we we get that age. We will have had a lifetime of agitations to motivate AND we'll not give a patootie about what anyone thinks.
I've committed a major logistical error in my T-G feast. In going from the searing to roasting phase (500 to 350) I managed to cut the &%$@$#% oven off. I'm in the shower and this thought popped into my head that the oven may not be on. Thank goodness my subconscious brain is smarter than my conscious brain. So I'm convecting and hoping the bird is done by 7 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. I'm thankful that I have a turkey to worry about, so many have nada.
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