From the Editor’s Desk, No. 63, Fall 2011 – Shahrokh Ahkami
Every day I receive many e-mails and letters from Iranians abroad. It usually takes hours of my time to get through them. Some of the letters bring me joy and happiness, some cause me to become agitated and others have such amazing depth, that you disbelieve or are shocked by their words.
A few days ago, while I was deciding on the subject of this editorial, I received an e-mail from Mr. Houshang Bafekr, an old childhood friend in Iran. He contributes articles to Persian Heritage and has a large following. In this e-mail he included a picture, and for the first time I decided to put the picture in the magazine. The picture was both shocking and interesting. The picture showed the face of a young boy, innocent and hopeless. He was selling band-aides in the streets of Tehran, simple BAND-AIDES, which are used to cover wounds. This young innocent child was selling these band-aides for income, to support himself and probably to support his mother, father, sisters and brothers. This child was not old enough to legally work. He should have been under the protection of his parents, spending quality time with his family, spending his day in school and his nights studying and sleeping in a warm soft bed. Instead, he was selling band-aides in the streets, in the bitter cold, in the terrific heat, in the snow and rain, night and day. He sits in a corner and then runs after people, hoping that they will buy the handful of band-aides he carries in his hand. He sells them to help cover the wounds of his customers and his own physical and emotional wounds. He sells them to raise a few pennies in order to put food on his family’s table and prevent malnutrition.
Underneath the picture was the following writing, “ I’m afraid even if I buy all your band -aides, my dear son, not only will they not cover my wounds, but it is possible they will not take care of your wounds either.” This picture caused such emotional and internal turmoil for me that for hours I had no desire to do or say anything to anyone. I hope no one was insulted by this. I truly, had no courage to share this picture that showed the poverty, misery and despair being experienced by the people and children in the country where I was born. Would it even be possible for me to make my children and their families understand that this is life today for those who live in Iran, a country that ranks third in the world on production of oil? How could I explain to them that this young child lives in a country that could be one of the richest and advanced countries in the Middle East, if not the world? This young child lives in a country that has seen two generations immigrate to other parts of the world. These immigrants have achieved high levels of richness and success in the lands they now call home. They are listed in the statistics as the most prominent ethnic group. And, they are defined as prominent figures in the fields of research, medicine, technology, engineering, finance, space and the arts.
I was silently screaming at myself, “how could I NOT be ashamed to show this picture to the children of those who immigrated? If I did show them the picture, what would I say, when they asked me why these are now the conditions in Iran? Should I tell them that we are the guilty ones? Should I tell them it is our fault because we left Iran out of selfishness and desire for comfort, wealth, personal success and achievements? Should I tell them that this is our fault because we made a “so called revolution” to change a regime in order to bring equality, liberty, peace and harmony to the Iranian people? Should I tell them it is our fault because we made the mistake of not knowing what to do and therefore ended up giving the destiny and government of Iran, to people who now rule in the name of “God” and religion? To those whose meaning of ruling is the increase of oppression, the addition of prisons and filling them with citizens who challenge the present government, because they are dissatisfied with their agenda? Should I tell them that we are the ones who abandoned this young child, leaving him to live in a country that is ranked first in the rate of teenage executions and second to China in total executions?
For hours tears filled my eyes and I suffered from a pain in my heart. I finally decided to leave the room where I was sitting and take a walk to be with nature and perhaps lower my boiling pressure. At the beginning of my walk I looked down and noticed a 10-cent coin. The head was up and as we say in America, “heads up pick it up, tails down leave it on the ground.” I wanted to pick it up and put it in my pocket, but instead made a decision to walk some more and pick it up on my return. I didn’t think the dime would be in jeopardy since the area where I was walking was isolated, absent of cars and people. I now wonder if one of the reasons I failed to pick the coin up at first chance was so I would walk longer and not rush back to the house.
After about twenty minutes I returned to the spot where I found the coin. Strangely enough it was not there. I thought for a moment that I had the wrong spot, so stubbornly I walked up and down for another thirty minutes looking for the dime. Having no success I conceded that someone else picked up the coin and was now enjoying the luck alleged to accompany it. Defeated by not finding the coin, I remembered the old proverb, “chance or luck only knocks once on your door.” I reached the conclusion that I had the opportunity to pick up this coin. It was at the tip of my foot, but my lack of determination and inability to make an instant decision caused me a lost opportunity; the coin was no longer available to me.
For the next hour the ten cent coin occupied my mind and kept me in turmoil. Then, suddenly I started to laugh at myself. How could I allow a ten-cent coin to affect me this way? Eventually I calmed myself and returned home. BUT, the real issue of my turmoil, the picture of the young boy, remained in my heart and mind.
Today as I am writing this editorial I found out that the present leader of Iran while at a gathering with his cabinet, made a speech. He stated, if you want to talk about Iran and the identity of Iranians, you should talk about Iran after Islam. He repeated again, that you should not talk about Iran before Islam, because all of the glory of Iran happened after, not before Islam and that Iran had no glory or history before.
Isn’t it amazing that in this 21st century, that while the “so called” civilized and advance countries of the world move forward, the people of Iran continue to struggle and fight for their honor and the honor of Iran’s history- thousands of years of history that Iran’s present rulers wish to erase. How could this be possible when today’s modern societies agree that they owe so much to the accomplishments of the Persians thousands of years ago. But Iran’s present rulers have a reason for trying to erase Iran’s past. They hope to divert and confuse its younger generation.
I ask you to look at the Persian side of this issue. There is an article by Mr. Sebt. The article discusses how Persians superficially became Arabs in the Caliph’s Royal Courts. An example is Ibn Moqafa, the historian and other Iranians translated the books of the Persian Empire Period, to the Arab language, in order to teach the Arab rulers how to run their kingdoms. Even if you want to be proud of our Iranian glory, post Islam, you must still acknowledge the great accomplishments and history produced during the Pre Islam Period. It includes the poets Ferdowsi, Rumi, Hafez and Saadi; Razi, the inventor of alcohol, Avicenna the physician and philosopher, Khayyam poet and inventor of algebra and mathematics: and scientists and astrologist such as Birouni, Farabi and Zaryab in the courts of the Arab Empire, in Spain. They were all proud of pre- Islamic Iran and tried always to separate and revive the Persian language and culture from the Arab language, which occurred in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, who were not Arab before Islam. Their great works are permanent part of the world’s history, literature and science.
I must ask the following question. When the Romans and the Greeks accepted Christianity did they deny the greatness of their past? Do the Romans of modern day, who remain Christian and live in Rome, the capital of Christianity deny the past greatness of their history? Have they forgotten the names of Alexander and Cesar? No, instead they continue to be proud of their past and teach their history to future generations, constantly exposing this greatness in museum exhibitions and archeology.
The world knows very well about the Persian Cyrus the Great and his famous cylinder which contains the first declaration of human rights. They know of the Emperor Darius who was the first builder of present Suez Canal. Is it fair of the present government in Iran to ask its people to ignore this greatness and the greatness of Persepolis and the Tomb of Cyrus the Great? Should we not constantly expose the world and our younger generation Iranians to the greatness of Iran’s accomplishments and contributions, rather than erase them from our history books? Is it right for the present rulers to want to ignore the past chapters of Persian history, which is the essence of our identity and begin a new identity with Persian Islam?
I truly do not know any longer what pain is more troubling. Is it the picture of the innocent and desperate child selling band-aides to survive? Is it losing my “good luck” by not immediately picking up the ten-cent coin? Or is it the suggestion that we deny and ignore the glorious civilization Pre Islamic Iran, throwing it away as if it were garbage.