A Letter to Ashurbanipal |
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By Mr. Aprim Shapera - London |
| Dear Grandfather, A long time ago, you engraved your messages on solid stones using chisels. You recorded the greatest explorations in history, and sent your armies, your retinue and scribes to the most distant parts of your empire in order to collect clay tablets on which your grandfathers the Sumerians, Akkadians and Babylonians recorded the world’s knowledge, reported news and documented their heritage, history, epics and legends. By virtue of your great accomplishment, namely the establishment of the first library ever in the history of human kind, the heritage of our ancestors reached us and all nations on this globe, which are still impressed by your contributions to civilization, the foundation of today’s advanced civilization. Oh grandfather, we are so proud of our ancient civilization, though it vanished as an every day’s reality several centuries ago, it is still flourishing in our hearts, lifting our spirit, and flowing in our veins. Yesterday, you wrote and performed attributively, spiritually, intellectually and constructively as an Assyrian. Being your descendants, we are trying hard to walk in your footsteps, as we possess the very Assyrian aspirations, intellect and determination in spite of the rigorous circumstances surrounding us. It is true that we have no empire or royal palaces or great kings or massive armies, not even a tiny state to practice our national rights, but have what is more important than all of these, and that is your spirit Ashur and our Assyrian name. Despite material impoverishment, we are full of confidence and zeal to see that your name survives forever. Although we are a small nation in today’s world, and even though there are people that lack knowledge of our existence as Assyrians, I assure you that through our sacrificing will and our rigid determination for survival, we will definitely immortalize your name. You are believed to be residing in a world of many centuries passed, but I am still addressing this letter to you. Those of week spirit will see this message as fantasy and unconventional writing, but that is due to their unawareness of the fact that you are living in the present time. That you are residing within us day and night, and that you are impersonated by our activities. They fail to realize that you are in each speech we deliver; in each letter we write as we express our feelings and thoughts. You are we in the past centuries, and we are you at the present time. Venerable Grandfather, do not despair or be saddened by those who were until recent times your relatives and offspring of your royal retinue, and today are denying your name. Why are they doing so? The answer is simple; your spirit has left their bodies and is replaced by satanic and extraneous evilness that has been forced upon them through persecutions and holocausts. They reached a point where they are no more ashamed to sell your name and the culture of thousands of years old to the despotic invaders that have seized the land of your great empire. As a matter of fact a body without soul is nothing but flesh and can only be considered a corpse that decays with time. Such individuals consequently will soon be the nutriment of scavengers of the dictatorial regimes and very soon we will witness their disgraceful fate, and it’s going to be the dunghill of our nations history, therefore, it is shameful to consider them Assyrians or even that they were Assyrians. By that your pure spirit will be immunized against their filthiness. Dear grandfather, though our national aspirations are in turmoil and facing a lot of hardships, I assure you that we still cherish your name in our hearts and your spirit still controlling our minds. Proudly I say to you that I am not the only descendent of yours even though I might be the only one writing to you directly. The fact is that there are thousands of your decedents struggling to honor your name and maintain your identity for the coming generations. It is true, you had massive armies that alarmed the enemies and that you employed genius advisers to perfect your decisions, but in this age, we have Assyrian organizations such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa) that, in spite of its scarce resources and hard conditions, is struggling with steely determination to rebuild what the savage enemies destroyed. Moreover, there are thousands of your loyal decedents today attending Assyrian schools in the homeland studying your language with excitement and have an astonishing brightness in their eyes reflecting our nation’s bright future. We also have the Assyrian Democratic Organization (Mtakasta) that is firmly and quietly striving in order to maintain your name in our historical homeland and to consolidate your grandsons’ national existence there. No doubt your spirit sees your descendents scattered around the world, living far away from their homeland and still cherishing your name wherever they be and what is more, identifying themselves as Assyrians. In fact we did lose our homeland, some traditions and many of your young decedents can hardly speak Assyrian, but your superior spirit is still within us, expressed by our daily struggle. It gives me pride to inform you that we have political parities in the Diaspora that are striving to honor your name. Moreover, we have an inveterate federal organization namely (Assyrian American National Federation) in USA, which annually brings together thousands of your descendents in your name, praise your achievements and glorify your grandeur. Did I not mention that you will never die and that you are alive among us wherever we are? There are numerous live examples depicting the greatness of your spirit and its magical power among your descendents. One example is a magazine called “Khuyahda”, which in spite of its limited resources, numerous problems and difficulties encountered by its staff, is in continuous publication with an astonishing determination. For nearly a quarter of a century now, it is being issued in five languages, and in a country called Sweden, far away from our historical homeland Atour. What makes each member of the staff of “Khuyahda” such a noble descendant of yours is the fact that they are blessed by your spirit through your immortal son Na’aom Fayiq that baptized them with your holy name. Congratulations grandfather for having such decedents, a source of pride and jubilation in your world as well as in ours. Let me now inform you of an invention in today’s world that has become a blessing for us the Assyrians and that was hard even to imagine few years ago. It is called the Internet. This magical tool is being used to spread your spirit and bring your descendants together no matter where they are residing on the glob. It is true that during your era of greatness you had remarkable and distinguished libraries, grand palaces, massive armies and genius scientists. In today’s time we have www.zindamagazine.com, www.nineveh.com, www.nineveh.info, www.bethsuryoyo.com, www.betnahrain.net, and many more. Another amazing and powerful new tool honouring your name is (AssyriaVission) of Bet-Nahrain Democratic Organization, a twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, Television programming, glorifying your name among the Assyrians and the nations and very recently (Assyrian SAT) to reach round the world. All these great “Assyrian Troops” are energized by your name and reflecting your spirit through their screens in order to bring your descendants together whether they are living in the homeland or Australia, California or in between. These powerful new communication capabilities are able to bring together your scattered descendents and help them meet through the cyber space, corresponding and chatting with each other on issues related to your superior name. Our current Cyber palace is akin to your Grand palace. Rest assured that some noble descendents of yours are capable of compensating temporarily the loss of our holy homeland by creativeness within the world of the Internet. It’s true that all bodies die and vanish as your body died and vanished, but the spirit stays alive and immortal just as your spirit is alive and among us. In today’s time, our nation’s entity is weakened and emaciated due to the tragic circumstances that it faced for so many centuries. The sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of some of your decent descendants, were not for any personal gain or to acquire wealth and seek fancy titles. All sacrifices were for the sake of keeping your spirit alive within us, being the only power capable of binding all your descendents together in one spiritual unity. A true Assyrian spirit that cannot be imprisoned, physically tortured, or executed, not even by the most savage tyrant rulers. Such spiritual unity, which never will age, knows no limitations in time and geography, no borders and can travel without passports or visas. It can be present at any time and location needless of an agenda or a calendar or a land or a state, and can be active and perceivable whether it is in the homeland or the Diaspora. As you can see, in order that I get my message through, I have no choice but to write in a foreign language that is not familiar to you, even though our Assyrian language dominated the old world for so many centuries. Some one might ask, how would you grandfather understand this message? The fact is that we are communicating spiritually; through our conscience and our thoughts, which give us the capability to understand each other very clearly. This will definitely be too hard to understand by those who are lacking the Assyrian spirit. Finally, it’s hard to say farewell as there is nothing that can separate us from you, not even death. You’ll always be with us whether in this life or the eternal, since your soul is ours and is energizing our hearts and minds. Our belief in your name will be consolidated even more the day we regain ownership of our historical homeland. This has always been our greatest hope, and we will never hesitate, tire out or despair in our struggle to regain our legitimate historical rights, even if it takes thousands of years. So long, great grandfather and till the next message … love and greetings from your true and honest descendants. Your faithful grandson Aprim Shapera |