Genocide Memorial, Yerevan, Armenia

Genocide Memorial, #4, Yerevan, Armenia, 2022

“Never underestimate the power of good, but never ignore evil lurking in the hearts of men.”

—Sonia Rumzi

Gods or Beasts?

What is it with us human beans? We are capable of the most amazing acts of love and heroism… and at the same time, the most heinous acts of barbarism and cruelty.

Only a partial list… the Spanish conquest, the African slave trade, the war against the indigenous in the Americas, Australia, and elsewhere, Stalin’s brutal repression, the Holocaust, the Greek genocide, the Cambodian genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the Rwandan genocide, the brutality in Sudan, the current atrocities in Ukraine… the list goes back forever into the ages (Attila the Hun, Vlad the Impaler, et al) and never seems to end as we move forward in time…

Here, in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on a hill overlooking the city and with an unobstructed view of Mount Ararat, one can quietly contemplate this confounding question of human nature.

One may ask, “Are we gods or are we beasts?”, but even beasts are not normally capable of such demented behavior. The beasts kill to eat and survive, and rarely do they simply kill. The latter seems to be a uniquely human characteristic.

A Mid-Day Visit

Thinking and shooting in monochrome seemed to be the best bet during our mid-day visit. As a photographer, I would have preferred stormy skies to match the somber mood of this place, but perhaps the intended message from the Universe on this day was one of light and hope…