A YouTube clip began circulating on Facebook about the Gyumri Hotel Palace built by the mayor of the city, Vardan Ghukasyan, a known thug, scandal-plagued swindler, and all-time low-life.

The story of our lives and the stories of our parents and grandparents are the sum of all that we are and continue to be. While many of those stories are laced with pain both personal and collective and enough adversity and heartache to fill volumes, there is also a heritage, a veritable treasure chest of priceless riches.

I have had to bear witness to poverty in my homeland more times than I care to remember. I have felt the bitter cold of winter on my back each time I have gone to the village of Vedi for Christmas to visit distant relatives who live there. The same occurred again this year when I made my annual trek to see this family of six who live in conditions that should bring shame on all of us.

Many years ago, I was asked to speak by our local Armenian Relief Society (ARS) chapter on the occasion of Mother’s Day. I was a young mother myself at the time, raising two young children, and working excruciatingly long hours. Had it not been for my mother, I’m not sure how I would have survived that period in my life. Naturally, my speech was dedicated to her and to all Armenian mothers.

The Declaration and Plan of Action that was born from the Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing 15 years ago in 1995, outlined areas of critical concern for women. Some of those concerns – the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women; inadequate conditions of health; violence against women; the effects of armed conflict on women; inequality in economic structures, policies and in access to resources; inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels; insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women; and lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights of women, continue to persist in developing and emerging democracies of the former Soviet Union.

Armenia’s demographic landscape is changing; modern-day warriors are emerging. These warriors are not engaged in battle or warfare but exemplify a different kind of courage and daring, one that demands unfaltering commitment and love to our collective concept of homeland.

While most of the world has finished celebrating the New Year and gone back to work, the holiday season is only now coming to a close in Armenia. Most post-Soviet countries like Belarus, Georgia, the Russian Federation, Moldova, the Ukraine, and Armenia continue to celebrate the Old New Year according to the Julian calendar, which falls on January 13.