Forgotten Fire

A really nice way to end the weekend in reading - Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian.  This is a true story told from the letters of Bagdasrian’s uncle who lived through the atrocities of the First World War as an Armenian living in Turkey.   His uncle grew up in Bitlis in a very privileged and wealthy environment until the Turkish people joined forces with the Germans.   Vahan’s whole life came crumbling down.  First his father and most every adult male disappeared, then his remaining family members were carted away on a journey of death.  Vahan, the only remaining member of the family, struggled to escape the sadistic and inhumane treatments where the Armenians were walked into cesspools of contaminated water, placed in houses to be burned, and shot in the back if they didn’t walk without food or drink for days on end.  Amazingly he lived to tell his tale, serving as a servant to a Turkish man, a servant to a Armenian doctor (who was under Turkish rule), living as a “deaf” gypsy, and escaping to find some Armenians who escaped to Constantinople.  Along the way Vahan fell in love, showed true bravery in finding the faith and strength to use the incomprehensible death of every family member to never give up.  This is an all too true representation of humanity on this earth.  It is written so we will never forget that evil lurks in the hearts of people.  Inspiring that a 12-14 year old can move forward and reach safety even though all is lost around him.  I had not known much about the Armenian genocide, but it is estimated that between 300,000 to 1.5 million were killed.  Forgotten Fire serves many purposes, therapeutic, inspiration, and promoting a collective consciousness that our society should not let the fire for freedom, individuality, and personhood to ever be out of our awareness.  Strong read.