“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” -James Baldwin

The ruins of Ani between my grandfathers’ village and the expanse of the wheat fields is a permanent reminder that all of our efforts are in vain. Neither we nor our enemies will succeed and we will all perish. In a world whose principal pillars built on ephemera, hating others to the degree that will hold us from enjoying life seems so unnecessary.