Letter -- Gregory Gharib

My family has resided in the area for more than 50 years. My father

has one of the largest book (educational) binderies in L.A. County (based

in Glendale), my mother provides consultation services to people of all

nationalities, and I am a former Glendale Parks and Recreation employee,

working with at-risk youth.

In the past couple of weeks, I have never seen such a heartfelt

outpouring of reverence in the community as I have witnessed in the past

couple of weeks through the letters sent to the News-Press. I am truly

astonished and taken back with the logical approach everyone has taken to

communicating the wrong (misguided) statements of Iva Caricco.

I tried to empathize her words and rationalize her opinions about my

heritage, but I couldn’t. I looked to see what my family could have done

to make her feel this way, but I couldn’t. The pain continued ... so I

decided to do something that any good American would do to eradicate a

personal sense of miscommunication: open these injudicious channels of

communication and invite her over to my house for a traditional meal.

If she could or would like to spend a couple of hours in my house and

see the love and hospitality of an American home with cultural lineage to

Armenia, I bet it would rid her of years of aggression and convince her

that my family is not out to get her or our country.

Iva, my family door is open to you any time. I will keep it unlocked

for you to seek new truths.

GREGORY GHARIB

Glendale