Go home refugees! You suck! ....or stay?

Arab refugees should NOT be discouraged to start a new life in a new country.

My name is George Ohan and I was born in Aleppo, Syria. I am also a U.S. Army veteran; eight years active duty.

This message is for the Arabs and many other people around the world that are forced to become refugees in this time of turmoil and conflict. Do not be discouraged to live the life that you imagine for yourself. You CAN make your desired life your reality; just like I did.

In 1981 my family had to leave Syria and ended up in Los Angeles, CA. My parents didn’t speak any English, and Hollywood was much different than anything they had seen. 

My suggestion to refugees is to avoid watching mainstream news outlets and avoid reading anything published  by mainstream news outlets. News in America and around the world is BIG business. The more drama and negativity that a story has, the more viewers a news company can possibly get to watch that story. Viewers = Money.  Right now “refugees and war” is their main business model. The news companies report the stories that they want to tell and sell. They scare the people in foreign countries to think that a “refugee” is a terrorist. What’s your story as a refugee? Have you seen that version on the news?

Do not be discouraged by tactics of hate. Do not react with hate and anger. Do not lose focus on the perfect life that you imagine for yourself. If you are reading this, then you still have a chance to become anything that you want to become in your life. You still have the chance to do the things that you have always wanted to do with your life. Plan it, and do it.

Honestly, I do not believe that people in America are afraid of terrorists moving into their neighborhoods. Maybe they are afraid to see hard working Arabs or “refugees” coming into their neighborhoods because refugees might start to be successful in the same places that the locals have been struggling? 

 Take me for example:

1. I had 3 jobs in high school (age 14 - 17)
2. I joined the U.S. Army at 17 years old
3. I was promoted to Sergeant by 20 years old
4. I was promoted to Staff Sergeant by 23 years old
5. I graduated with 2 U.S. college degrees
6. I was voted as alumni President for Veterans of my college
7. I was voted as the Student Veterans of America, chapter President
8. I have started 5 businesses on my own, and 2 with partners
9. I have helped Americans start over 100 businesses
10. I was voted as Chapter Captain of Team Red, White & Blue

The list of success can go on, but I hope that you get my point…. I didn't take those positions from anyone. I EARNED everything by working harder than those people around me. Usually when people don't like me, it's because their laziness is exposed when they are compared to me. The work ethic of a motivated and hungry immigrant is hard to match by average locals in any country. It's called a sense of "urgency", but media will try to call it an "insurgency."

I’m happy that my parents did not take the advice of many Americans when they were told things like, “Go back to your country.” 

When I was selected, voted, or promoted to positions of higher authority and responsibility nobody ever said, “Hey! That guy is a Syrian immigrant! Send him back to his country!” People were happy that I was the right person for the job. I, George Ohan, a Syrian immigrant have been beating Americans in competition my whole life. I didn’t have any special advantage to be set up for success over any other people. The only thing that I had control over was my attitude and perspective about my situation. I keep my mind focused on my ultimate desires, and my chances of success seem to be increasing significantly.

Refugees will have to work much harder than anyone else to prove who you are, but that’s ok. Proving WHO you are (your character) only shows with time and consistency of your actions. Keep doing the right thing in your new community, do it for the right reasons, do it for a long time, and good results will come from it.

As a refugee, you will identify “friendly” people along your journey. Build on relationships with tolerant people and create lasting friendships with locals. Everybody does not hate refugees. From my experience, I have found that people are very similar around the world. They show love and respect, when love and respect are shown to them and their home. 

(Mirza, Muslim and Bosnian Refugee living in USA)

Seek a mentor in your new community. Figure out how things are done in the new region that you live in, and add value to your new community. Home is where you make it. You have a huge opportunity to show the world about the love and caring that your culture offers.

May God be with you.

Very respectfully,

George Ohan

Entrepreneur 

If someone can translate this blog to Arabic and re-post, that would be great!

GIs of Comedy at the U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv (4 of 5)

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Author: George Ohan

Blog 4 of 5

Arriving: 7:45 AM - Tel Aviv, Israel – November 21, 2014

I’m sure we’ve all heard that Syria and Israel have some problems between the two countries, right?  The reason I am saying this is because I was born in Syria, so even though I am an American citizen with a USA passport “Place of Birth” says Syria.  However, my ethnicity is ARMENIAN.  My last name is Ohan, instead of Ohanian because when my family fled through the desert to avoid being slaughtered by the Ottoman Turks during WW1 they changed their name and posed as Arabs to survive the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.  (Turkish Government still denies killing 1.5 million people)  I hope you enjoyed the history lesson.  I have never seen a history book that is used in U.S. schools teach this.

CUSTOMS CHECK IN at Tel Aviv airport:

“Passports and papers please.  One moment please.  Mr. Ohan can you please come with us?”   Damn!  It happened in less than five minutes of me being in Israel.  I look over at the guys and the person that stuck out the most to me was P.J. Walsh, because he had a genuine look of concern on his face.  The four comedians all made it through customs and proceeded to the baggage check area.  I was held back for additional screening and luckily we had two escorts from the US Embassy there picking us up so they could help out with this situation.  Israeli security brought me into a room and asked me several questions dealing with: personal affairs overseas, family in foreign countries, addresses of known family members that do not live in the United States, business affairs, financial questions, and more.  I knew that I was not a terrorist and I would soon be free to go, so I kept a very positive attitude, I never lost my smile, and anyone that asked me how I was doing received a genuine response of, “Loving life!”  When it was all over, I came walking out to the baggage claim area and I was acting as if security gave me the full rubber glove “digital stimulation” (They did NOT) and the comedians were all laughing.  Ok, welcome to Israel!  Our escort, Adan started to explain how things work and we were off!

I’m not sure how many people have even stepped foot into a U.S. Embassy, but we were on our way to meet the Ambassador and General in Tel Aviv?  Israel is an amazingly beautiful country and I recommend anyone to visit when they have a chance.  We enjoyed a delicious traditional breakfast on the Mediterranean Sea and got our day started.  The hosts from the U.S. Embassy were very gracious and generous with their time.  The GIs of Comedy and Armed Forces Entertainment were in great hands. 

After extensive security briefings about the “Iron Curtain” with the Ambassador and top-ranking General at the embassy we had an opportunity to visit Jerusalem.  P.J. Walsh is a chill, laid back, mostly doesn’t say much if nothing is needed to be said type of person……. However, in Israel this guy lit up!  He seemed genuinely excited to be going places, taking pictures, and learning about the history of the Old City.  This was very cool for me to see because he is an Irish Catholic from New York, and they’re just usually angry for fun.  We had a chance to see things like:  Oskar Schindler’s grave, King David’s tomb, the Western Wall, and so many amazing places with historical significance.  Throughout the day I noticed P.J. taking some really great photos and the thing that stuck out to me was that he was really present in the moment and wanted to capture very specific images.  As a photographer, I can appreciate when a person wants to cherish a time and place in their life as it’s happening.  My inspiration comes from people being inspired about LIFE.  This is a guy that is usually very quiet until show-time, but on this day the entire world was his stage.  P.J. kept giving me little bits of humorous encouragement and words of wisdom throughout the day, as it related to being the SYRIAN guy in Israel.  I appreciated that very much and I started to notice that our team was really coming together.  (On our first day in Italy P.J. offered to shove my camera up my ass; now we were a little bit past that)

Our hotel was really great, David Intercontinental in Tel Aviv is an amazing place to stay.  That evening I went exploring the city on foot and really got to see how things came alive.  People walking around enjoying life, restaurants full of people, and different live events going on in certain venues.  Our next show was not until the next evening so I had the next morning to explore the city more.  This day was Shabbat and most of the stores were closed, the streets looked empty, and people were spending time with family and friends.  I finally found a cool place called Bugsy’s to get my traditional Israeli breakfast and keep it moving.  (Any city that I go to, I explore!)  I was looking for a cool piece of art to take home and I came across a shop that looked like it could be located in downtown Los Angeles.  When I walked into the shop the young lady that greeted me spoke English perfectly!  I took a look around the store and I found a piece that popped out to me and asked her about it.  She proceeded to tell me about the shop and how they keep all of their prices under $1,000 to keep art affordable and to inspire artists to bring their pieces to this shop to sell.  The art that I chose actually belonged to her!  This is a great gesture to an artist; choosing her work without being influenced to do so.  I ended up buying the piece and now I have a memory for ever!  Check out her stuff on

Etsy: www.SwordMeOut.etsy.com - @LisaEyes on Instagram

SHOWTIME!

As a tour manager one of my responsibilities is to gage the type of show to put on for our crowd.  I knew that our audience would be high ranking military officials, U.S. Embassy civilians, and Israeli locals so we had to adjust some of the comedians sets to match that crowd.  The GIs Of Comedy are true PROFESSIONALS in every sense of the word.  They really delivered when it counted and the whole crowd was pleased from the first minute until the last minute of the show.  P.J. Walsh really brought his “A game” on this one.  The reason I say this is because I had watched his previous sets and to see him make the adjustments to his jokes for this crowd and still maintain the comedic value was genius. ……A true artist and professional at work.

Next morning driving to the airport our taxi gets pulled over for a “random” search and here we go again!  I was detained by Israeli security again for many questions, baggage inspection, and further investigation about our trip in the country.  This time they even stopped us a second time inside of the airport and questioned all of the comedians that I was traveling with about my affiliation to Syria.  We all had our “Loving life” attitudes and it all worked out.

Next stop: Sharm el Sheik, Egypt

Very Respectfully,

George Ohan

George@EightDeltaGlobal.com

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*BLOG 4 of 5 series

*SUCCESS NOTE, might be one of the steps that I personally took to get to where I am.

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President Obama needs to stay out of Syria

This will require reading, so I know most of the people that clicked on this link would rather look at a picture and click “like”, but this isn’t for you.  Please dismiss yourself ASAP.  This article is for the educated people of the world that actually read.

Our president is a liar, but nobody cares.  Remember when President Obama won the votes of the nation with an anti-war campaign against George Bush?  What happened to bringing the troops home?  What happened to recognizing the Armenian Genocide?  What happened to all of the A-list stars chanting “rock the vote?”  Why did President Obama order to have Mummar al-Gaddafi killed?  Oh wait, the morons of our nation are too busy posting pictures and comments of Miley Cyrus to their Facebook and Instagram accounts….

I have a lot of family still living in Syria, and I was born there too.   I speak to them and get a full understanding of the situation and the news has our entire nation fooled.  Everyone that has commented with their foolish comments online certainly have no idea of what’s going on in Syria.  Just because you read a timeline on Twitter or Facebook, you do not have all of the facts.  Other idiots post their rhetoric for the world to see based on a different idiot’s rhetoric that they read 2 minutes prior.  That’s how our civilized society gets their information.  Maybe 10% of what I’ve seen and read seems relevant and worthwhile.  For those people that I’m connected with on social media I see the ridiculous comments and posts that are poking fun at Syria.  It truly shows what you do not know and how uneducated you really are. 

Unlike the United States, Syria doesn’t advertise the full strength and capabilities of their military.  The Syrian military is very powerful and well respected in the international community.  They certainly have the WILL to win and the American public does not need to put themselves through this.  Iran, Russia, and China.  Does that mean anything to anyone? 

How many murders have there been in the United States since President Obama took office?  Over 50,000 murders here in the United States, that’s how many!  People in the USA are so angry, hateful, and in disagreement with each other that they kill each other at a higher rate than most wars.  Do you see other countries trying to come here to our land and attack us because these people are being killed?  Why doesn’t our president try to police his own problems before acting like he’s the world police?  If George W. Bush was in office the media would be going absolutely crazy right now with this situation.  However, with President Obama people are acting like going to war is ok.  Is this a problem to anyone else? 

If you asked the people of Syria what they think of Bashar al-Assad you’d realize that the USA needs to stay out of their country.  Have you been to skid row in downtown Los Angeles?  It looks like a fourth world country.  Homelessness, drug addicts, crime, rape, and every other disgusting thing you can imagine only a few miles away from Beverly Hills.  Has our president ever walked those piss-drenched streets of his own country?  We have our own problems that need to be fixed.   President Obama would rather invest money into a war instead of helping to provide shelter to homeless women veterans of the USA?  Female veterans with children are the most rapid growing demographic of people that are becoming homeless in the United States right now.  Does our president care?

I hope that Congress does the right thing and does not allow my brothers and sisters to go fight in a war that we do not have any business being in.

Very Respectfully,

George Ohan

Religion, Spirituality, and is there a Need for it?

Hello,

My name is George Ohan and I am currently producing a "Feature Documentary" about the Armenian church here in Southern California. (www.facebook.com/ArmenianChurchFilm) I would like to send an email to people in the Armenian community and give them this information.  It would be great to read feedback about their position on some of the topics we are bringing up.  This film is designed to bring up important topics like:

1. Determine why the faith, membership, and attendance practices of Armenians change so dramatically from 1st to 3rd generation for the Armenian Church?

2. Measure the success or failure of the ministry of the Armenian church in America.

3. Provide a groundwork of eveidence for any future study on the need for adjusting the method of ministry of the Armenian church.

4. Does the Armenian church belong at the root of the Armenian culture?

We have already filmed at seven different locations from the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church in Southern California.  At this point we would like to get feedback from the community and add depth to the story behind this interesting project.  Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Emails can be sent to ArmenianChurchFilm@yahoo.com

Very Respectfully,

George Ohan