One Thousand Ways To Be Armenian

To be Armenian is not one thing. It never was.

We were never meant to fit into a single mold or be held inside one border. We are a people of many countries, many languages, many lives. We were born in Armenia, yes—but also in Iran and Lebanon, in France and Syria, in Russia, Canada, and California. We are scattered around the globe, but unified in spirit. Dispersed, but not diminished.

Some of us are Democrats. Some of us are Republicans. Some are Independent. Some are completely unaffiliated. And yet—we are all Armenian.

Some of us are Christian. Others are Muslim. Buddhist. Jewish. Some walk with no religion at all. And still—we are Armenian.

We are every shade of the human rainbow, in all possible ways. Gay, straight, light skinned, dark skinned, tall, short, from every corner of the world. 

We are artists and engineers, activists and introverts, doctors and mechanics. We are loud and quiet, bold and humble.

There is no single way to be us. And that is our strength.

Everywhere we go, we take our culture with us. We fold it into new recipes, hang it on gallery walls, tuck it into lullabies and love letters. We create little pieces of Armenia in cities and countries where our ancestors never walked—but where our spirit now blooms.

Because being Armenian isn’t just something we are. It’s how we show up in the world. It’s how we love, how we remember, how we keep the fire lit.

There is no one image of an Armenian. There are thousands. And every one of them is beautiful. Every one of them carries the legacy forward.

We are one. We are all.