Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom!

Here's a photo of my dad, my sister Anne, me, and my mom in Central Park. My parents live in Troy, a beautiful city in upstate New York, but they come to visit my sister and me in New York City occasionally.

September 22 is my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, I've never been very good about getting birthday presents for my mom in advance. So, the day has arrived and I still haven't ordered a gift for her. But she often tells me that she'd prefer that I write something for her; she'd appreciate that more than another sort of gift. So, on the blog today: meet my mom.

On the first day of school, about half of you eighth graders said that your mother was a great leader to you. I agree with all of you! My mom has been leading and guiding me since before I was born. She has been a great role model for me: since I was six, she has been an elementary school librarian, and her students are very lucky to have such a hard-working and creative person in the library. More importantly, she's been a loving, loyal, faithful mother to my sister and me--and she's been a great wife to my dad, and a great daughter to my grandma. She loves me and cares about me. She'd do anything for me. And I love her too.

But what makes her such a loving mother? When I was starting to teach, I had a very difficult time and she supported me through it. When I was having trouble in college, she always encouraged me and sent me resources to help me write papers and study more effectively. When I was a self-conscious, anxious, shy middle school student, she helped me to deal with the stress.

But let me take you back even further, to a conversation that she may not even remember, that happened when I was nine. I was in fourth grade, and my sister Anne was in first grade. We were both starting at a new school, and my sister was starting to make friends in her class. One night at dinner, she said that one of her friends was Turkish. In response, I made a nasty face and a disrespectful comment.

Here's why I was disrespectful: I am Armenian and, at age nine, I was starting to learn the history of my family and my people. My great-grandparents came to America around 1915 because of the Armenian Massacres. During the Massacres, Armenians who lived in Turkey were being killed in huge numbers by the Turks and their government. My great-grandmother's first husband and children were lost or killed at the hands of the Turks.

Why did the Turks want to kill the Armenians? Short answer: there's no good reason. But here are some ideas: the Turks were worried that the Armenians would threaten their power during World War I. They also hated Armenians because Armenians are different--Armenians are usually Christians; Turks are usually Muslims. If you wanted to be very simplistic, you could just say that Muslims killed my family. But that would be way too simplistic, as we know. Just because some people who call themselves Muslims were violent doesn't mean that all Muslims are responsible for it.

Back to the scene at my dinner table in 1993: When my sister mentioned that she had a Turkish friend, I made a nasty face and a snide comment. Instantly, my mom and dad raised their voices and said, "Don't you ever do that. The Armenian Massacres were a problem between your great-grandparents and Anne's friend's great-grandparents. We don't have any reason to have problems with the Turks today. So don't act like you do."

My mom and dad loved me enough to correct me when I was doing something wrong. I could have gone down a bad, hateful path if they hadn't said anything to me. But, instead, I learned from them and became a better person.

I'm so thankful for my mom. I know she'll be reading the blog. If you want to leave her a "Happy Birthday" note, I'm sure she'd appreciate it. You can call her "Mrs. Toomajian." And if you'd like to share something about a lesson your mother has taught you, please feel free to do that here too.

14 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Mrs.Toomajian! On the other hand, you have posted that your "...great-grandmother's first husband and children were lost or killed at the hands of the Turks." Please accept my sympathy for your lost ones.
    Mr. Toomajian is a teacher that I can gain plenty of science concepts. So far,I got refreshed on 9/11. So far, I have also gathered new information about Muslims and their life styles. The lesson your mom told you, when you were nine years old meant a lot. I think it your mom is trying to say that the past is the past and one must move on with his or her life. PS (You shouldn't come to work tomorrow. A day off will be GREAT!)

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  2. Am I working you too hard, Savon? So hard that you forgot I teach you social studies, not science? Just kidding. Thank you so much for your hard work and your birthday wishes for my mom. I will most definitely see you in class TOMORROW!

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  3. Jennifer said....
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mrs.Toomajian. Thank you for fixing our library when we were in 7th grade. You have a wonderful son who is an amazing teacher. He tells us amazing things about you.I wish you a future full of happiness. I hope all of your wishes come true. I wish you many more birthdays. Once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :)

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. TOOMAJIAN. i HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY. YOU HAVE A GREAT SON WHO IS A WONDERFUL TEACHER TO MY CLASS. I REMEBER MEETING YOU WHEN YOU WERE FIXING OUR LIBRARY WHEN I WAS IN 7TH GRADE. I HOPE ALL YOUR WISHES ON YOUR BIRTHDAY CAKE COME TRUE AND THAT YOU HAVE MANY MORE BIRTHDAYS. i HOPE THAT YOUR LIFE WOULD BE FULL OF HAPPINESS AND JOY WITH THE REST OF YOUR FAMILY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY:P

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  5. Jennifer and Yelissa, thanks so much for those birthday wishes for my mom.

    Savon, jokes aside, I do appreciate your sympathy for my Armenian ancestors. I never met my family who suffered through the Armenian Massacres, but it had to be a profoundly painful event, and I hope none of us ever have to experience anything like it.

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  6. Happy Birthday Mrs.Toomajian! Your son (Mr.Toomajian) is such a great teacher! He's very intersesting when it comes to his lessons! He's very passionate at times. But it seems that you have your OWN passion to! You sure know how to teach a person lessons in just five words! It's given me a knew persepective!
    -Nyah 703

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  7. Happy Birthday Mrs.Toomajian I hope you will have a great day. Oh and sorry to hear about your grandparents that sounds like such a tragedy. Also it is nice to now that Mr.toomaijian thinks of you as such a nice mother. It was great how you steered him down the right rode, because then me and my fellow classmates wouldn't have such a great Social Studies teacher. And to Mr.toomajian it is interesting to know that every time you say something i learn a knew history lesson.
    George Hernandez 802

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  8. Thanks, everybody. Here's a note from Jaison via e-mail:

    Happy birthday Mrs. Toomajian I really hope you have a great one like no other :-D
    happy birthday from us at ccaa :-D

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  9. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS.TOOMAJIAN!I hope you have a great time and that all your wishes come true! While i was reading, i noticed that Mr.Toomajian is blessed to have such a devoted and caring mother like Mrs.Toomajian. The reason why i believe this is because only a GREAT MOTHER will correct his son when he does something wrong. Though no amount of thanks can compensate or equal the cares, worries and love your mom has given you Mr.Toomajian!
    -Samantha L.

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  10. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS.TOOMAJIAN!!!!!!!!!
    I wish u the best day ever !!!

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  11. Happy Birthday Mrs. Toomajian! Hope your wishes come true! Thank you for fixing the library last year. Your son has been a very good teacher so you should be very proud of him :). Again have a Happy and good Birthday!
    -Danny G

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  12. Happy birthday Mrs.Toomajian! I hoped you enjoyed yourself today. Your son Mr.Toomajian really wanted to make your birthday special and I hope all of us commenting made it special to you. I hope and assume you are as passionate about books as your son is about history. It makes his lessons more fun and interesting becuase he is doing something he loves and so he puts a lot of effort into it so thank you for raising him this way. As soon as I heard him say it was your birthday I knew that I had to come to the blog and write you a little happy birthday note.
    Mr.Toomajian I think the lesson that your mom and dad taught you at the age of nine was very important. I think it was important because it taught you that it was not good to hold rencor against others. Just because a person is of a specific religion and because a group of people from that religion do something bad doesn't mean that all the people from that religion are the same, as mentioned in class. Also, if it would all come down to the fact of killing over fear many people would be discriminated at this point in time for there ancestors; many people kill for fear, for example the Turks who killed your great grandmothers first husband and children (by the way Mr. Toomajian sorry for your lost). In conclusion, I agree with your feeling of gratitude because I know that I would surely be thankful for learning such an important lesson at such a young age. Helmsley H.

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  13. Happy Belated Birthday Mrs.Toomajian. Wish you the best on your Birthday.Well i'm going to start of saying that I really being in your son's class (Mr.Toomajian) because we all get to share our thoughts.Also in his class we are learning about 9.11 and about Mayor Bloomberg,Martin Luther King's speech. I really think you are blessed to have a wonderful son like him.So when we go to class we go prepared and ready to roll. Well thank you so much for hearing a birthday wish and i wish you an Awesome birthday. Happy Birthday Mrs.Toomajian :)

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  14. HAPPY B-DAY MRS.TOOMAJIAN !!!!!!I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCKY IN THE WORLD YOUR SON IS MY S.S TEACHER IN THE SCHOOL CCAA.HE IS A GREAT TEACHER YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOUR SON ON YOUR B-DAY..

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