Tragedy on a Tehran-Yerevan flight

Published: Thursday July 16, 2009

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Tragedies that leave us numb sometimes also remind us of the strength of our bonds and of our common humanity. On Wednesday, July 15, we learned that 168 lives had ended on an airplane flying from Tehran to Yerevan. And we also saw that tens of thousands of other lives were touched by this calamity.

Armenians are spread across the globe, but an event like this shows us how small that globe is. Everywhere you look - in Sydney, in Toronto, in Los Angeles, in Tbilisi, and beyond - there are shocked and grieving relatives and friends. Almost everyone you speak to either lost someone or has friends or colleagues who lost someone. And now, from these far corners, families will be reuniting for a grim occasion.

It is also worth remembering that most of the passengers on the plane were non-Armenians visiting Armenia: families who had chosen "Armenestan" as their vacation spot; business people building prosperity for themselves and the two countries; a group of young judoists preparing to train jointly with their Armenian counterparts.

As we grieve and pray and offer each other comfort, let us also find consolation in vastness of the community that grieves and prays with us.