“When I lived in Artsakh, the most frustrating thing for me was that with almost every new acquaintance I had to explain why I came here. At first I even cried, realizing that throwing yourself into any difficulties just because you love your country madly is not really perceived as something natural and normal.

In July, we met Ruben Vardanyan in Kolatak — he came to Akobavank. I looked at him and thought: “I wonder why he really came here? What has he lost here?” And you, what have you lost? It hurts you when you left your wonderful family and normal life for a blockade, and a lot of people don’t understand your motives even after two years. And what to say about him, who left billions, an incredibly important and meaningful life, does an incomparably larger cause, but even you look for ulterior motives in his actions. At what point did it become so difficult and unnatural for us to believe simple things?

Ruben’s message was hard. A lesson in dignity and spiritual strength. You can spend a long time thinking about each paragraph. I’m thinking about this:

“I am a person who wants to live, love and continue my activities. But I believe that what I am doing is right, because it is the only way to bring you out of indifference”.

There’s probably nothing we can do for Ruben himself. It remains to be seen whether we can do something for ourselves to get out of this indifference.

#freeRubenVardanyan»