Posted by parhad (158.252.214.38) on September 29, 2001 at 08:52:22:
I get the feeling at times that mankind in general and we Assyrians in particular are nothing more than the pitiful descendants of a once proud and wealthy family, who've fallen heirs to the family estate.
Having been raised rather dissolute and useless, we've not managed to do much with the family fortune bequeathed to us. Rather than expanding on it, or preserving it wisely, we've taken to making trips to the Pawn Shops downtown whenever there was a pressing need to eat or pay the bills or buy that certain something which is supposed to cure whatever aills you. With each trip some precious heirloom disappears from the old mansion till little by little we're reduced to an ever shrinking part of the mansion that can be called a "home".
The living room and parlour and reception hall have all been denuded of furniture, chandeliers, candlesticks, paintings and other artwork, expensive carpets and priceless antiques. And of course, knowing how desperately useless we've become, the pawn shop owners offer us very little for what were once proud and invaluable parts of the family fortune.
Right about now we're confined to a single attic bedroom, the rest of the 45 room mansion having been sold off at dissasterous losses just to keep us going, vainly trying to keep up appearances. We sit in this one room, an eye fixed on the last few sticks of furniture, a candlestick or two, a painting of a scowling forebear, a carpet and odds and ends, wondering how to make it through the coming week. The only ray of "hope" being that we're high enough off the ground that one good jump will clear our debt to nature and our ancestors.