Fatherly Counsel to My Son

May your life be long and your deportment exemplary and enviable. May your shadow be cool and restful* and may your footprints end in a flowerbed. May all your thorny paths be covered with plants of patience and sustained by their fruits.  May you reach the roadway covered with blossoms.  May God’s providence be your shelter and your shield and may your faith in Him redouble your self-reliance whereby you may rest unharmed by the envy of evil men and be encouraged by the sincere approbation of others.

K.G. Markarian

*May you be helpful to your fellow men

The original draft of “Fatherly Counsel to My Son” was written in Armenian and presented to me in 1946 by my father, Karnig Markarian.  His accompanying comment was “Remember I would like you to translate this note so that you know what I feel for you.” The following year he passed away and the note was respectfully subordinated to the experience of everyday life. Now, twenty-one years later, the nobility of a man’s soul has been transcribed into a message of inspiration which legacy I bequeath to all sons of all generations of fathers who know the magnificence of love.