Stacy is a name always reminding me of 4th of July. 4th of July is America's 22nd of Bahman[1]. It's just so great to be in the dreamland[2] on exactly this time and see fireworks going on in almost every major city. Firework itself isn't that interesting any more at least to me after 7 year in Japan, but the atmosphere is fascinating. NYPD helicopters going around in the sky of Manhattan seashore, gives the impression of being in an action scene of a Hollywood movie! And the very exciting thing is to be exactly at the very best target of "Terrorist Attacks", downtown Manhattan right on 4th of July! Me, criticizing most of American for being so emotional when selecting their president and so unaware about what's going on in the rest of the world, started to understand how fearful it'd be to hear your government speaking of terror and attack every day, it really can cover your eyes. You start feeling wherever you go, there might be a bomb going to explode and then ANYTHINGNYTHING to stop those "attackers"!
I went to the firework place alone that day and was waiting for around half an hour for the start. I didn't first pay attention to the girl standing very close to me. Every body was there with a friend or family and this girl would be waiting for a friend anyway! I thought, but after a while with nobody coming to her and she still waiting for the fireworks, I thought I am alone, she is alone, why not start a conversation?!
She seemed to be a kind of surprised to see someone just walking up to her and starting to talk and honestly I hadn't been doing that so many times! I just don't know why I decided to do that...… Well after a while every thing was very normal! I talked about myself and that I am traveling around the states and she said she's a student in New York. She invited me to be with her for the next day to go around New York since she could finish school by noon. The next day we were together almost the whole afternoon. She spoke so wise, so aware of what is going on around the globe, so logical about all the matters she had felt in American society and also in the Middle East. I told her it's great that she had been out of the states for a while and at the same time having a good knowledge of history. You simply can't see positives and negatives as long as you are in a society. Where you live is the center of universe and you simply don't care about anywhere else! When you are out of your country can see how other countries are being governed, how other people think, and you learn how to "understand".
One person we spoke about was Michael Moore; the famous director with his movie about Iraq war.…That day with Stacy was one of the best days I had in the states.
I'm writing this post because of the hurricane in New Orleans. I didn't even know where it is until all the news channels started to broadcast hurricane news. The first thing I noticed was that almost all people in every scene were Blacks. It was exactly like the promotion videos the Red Cross produces from African countries to collect money for them! I couldn't believe it's a part of America being shown!! Then I felt poverty is everywhere and not only in Iran, very fundamental rights of people is being neglected everywhere. Those people are not even poor, which is bad, but because of this poorness are receiving most of the damage, and this is horrible! Stacy sent me a letter of Michel to Bush which you can find in his home page.
After knowing Stacy and some other Americans I again realized what I already knew. Evaluating and judging people only by their nationality and race is an absolute injustice![3]
I went to the firework place alone that day and was waiting for around half an hour for the start. I didn't first pay attention to the girl standing very close to me. Every body was there with a friend or family and this girl would be waiting for a friend anyway! I thought, but after a while with nobody coming to her and she still waiting for the fireworks, I thought I am alone, she is alone, why not start a conversation?!
She seemed to be a kind of surprised to see someone just walking up to her and starting to talk and honestly I hadn't been doing that so many times! I just don't know why I decided to do that...… Well after a while every thing was very normal! I talked about myself and that I am traveling around the states and she said she's a student in New York. She invited me to be with her for the next day to go around New York since she could finish school by noon. The next day we were together almost the whole afternoon. She spoke so wise, so aware of what is going on around the globe, so logical about all the matters she had felt in American society and also in the Middle East. I told her it's great that she had been out of the states for a while and at the same time having a good knowledge of history. You simply can't see positives and negatives as long as you are in a society. Where you live is the center of universe and you simply don't care about anywhere else! When you are out of your country can see how other countries are being governed, how other people think, and you learn how to "understand".
One person we spoke about was Michael Moore; the famous director with his movie about Iraq war.…That day with Stacy was one of the best days I had in the states.
I'm writing this post because of the hurricane in New Orleans. I didn't even know where it is until all the news channels started to broadcast hurricane news. The first thing I noticed was that almost all people in every scene were Blacks. It was exactly like the promotion videos the Red Cross produces from African countries to collect money for them! I couldn't believe it's a part of America being shown!! Then I felt poverty is everywhere and not only in Iran, very fundamental rights of people is being neglected everywhere. Those people are not even poor, which is bad, but because of this poorness are receiving most of the damage, and this is horrible! Stacy sent me a letter of Michel to Bush which you can find in his home page.
After knowing Stacy and some other Americans I again realized what I already knew. Evaluating and judging people only by their nationality and race is an absolute injustice![3]
- In Iran we use a very old Persian calendar. A year starts with spring, with spring equinox being the first day of year. Bahman is the 11th month of the year and 22nd of Bahman is the victory day of Iran's revolution (around 30 ykingdoms), the day that Kingdome of Iran became Islamic Republic of Iran. The sentence tries to say that 4th of July is American Independence Day similar to 22nd of Bahman in Iran.
- The dreamland is what America has been called in some Persian literature.
- I have been suffering about this matter for a long time! In Japan people intend to talk about a certain nationality instead of a single person. If you are an American, you must be chewing gums and wear sunglasses, you got to love Hamburger and pizza, be impolite, and make fun of others!…Stacy was none of them!
I as an Iranian am supposed to be a potential terrorist and that's the way the officers in a western embassy behave when they want to issue me a visa to visit their country! Even if I am going to present my academic result in their conferences and spend money in their country!!! It's so funny to say I am going soOrwhere for sightseeing!!! or as a tourist! The first thing coming to their mind is why an "Iranian" would want to go to a Western country for sightseeing!!!
People don't care about how educated you are, what good things you have done, and even how you think about what is going on with your country's government. All what they care at least for official issues (such as traveling abroad) is your nationality!
3 comments:
Well, it is all about us.
Firstly, I agree with those you've written about the image of Iranians in Japan. But Americans are highly respected here. You know, no matter how well you are educated. They love U.S. anyway.
About Stacy, yes. There are many people around the globe who have enough information about such issues. But knowledge is not enough...
And about Mickel Moore: I do not agree with him in many cases. To me, he is a normal director who wants to present his works...
Thanks for the comment. I replied your comment in my blog.
Also thanks for isogashi (or izogashi?).
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