Monument joins Golden Gate & Coliseum
Armodoxy for Today: The Time is Right
On Friday, February 21, 2025 the Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument in Montebello, was designated as a historic landmark by the State of California, joining other historic landmarks across the state such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Hearst Castle and the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Plans for the Armenian Genocide Monument began as a dream 60 years ago. It was around the same time that plans were taking form in Yerevan, Armenia’s Capital, for the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial Monument, which today is part of a complex that is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.
The Armenian Genocide claimed 1.5 million Armenian lives from 1915 to 1922. It was the children of the Genocide survivors – both in Armenia and in California – that dreamt of and brought to fruition these memorial monuments.
My father was one of the dreamers. He was one of 18 men who made up the Armenian Monument Council (Montebello) and brought that dream to reality in 1968. I was 12 years at the opening of the Monument, but I remember several activities, from the groundbreaking on, where we – the kids of the Council members – were the “gofers,” doing the leg work, selling trinkets and pins at the events to collect a few dollars.
Timing is everything, they say. The timing was right for these structures to take form. In Armenia, which was part of the Soviet Union, the time was right. It was in the post-Stalinist era that this came to be. In America it was during the Civil Rights movement that ethnicity was being celebrated. The African American community was rebelling against segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. had made the “I have a Dream” speech in 1963, and protestors were chanting, “Black is beautiful” as a mantra of ethnic pride. It caught on and Mexicans were heard chanting, “Brown is beautiful” and Armenians joined in the chorus with “Olive is beautiful.”
The time was right and it all came together. This week on Armodoxy for Today, we’ll explore timing and how events, large and small, take place over the course of time, what is meant by “God’s time” and why patience is a virtue.
I share with you this gentle prayer, “Dear Lord, grant me the strength to be patient in moments of difficulty. Help me to trust in Your timing, knowing that everything happens according to Your divine plan. Guide my heart to remain calm and steadfast, even when the path seems uncertain. Fill me with Your peace and understanding, so that I may endure with grace and faith. Amen.“
