IRAN

“Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain.” - Saadi.

What Saidi had said so many years ago, was never so applicable for the country he came from as in the past couple of days.
Elections. What you can imagine under that word and under the act can fluctuate and be subjective. In foreign Soviet Union it did not exist, in Germany it is free, in the US it is complicated, and well, in Iran? I guess that has to be determined. when a country had a revolution some 30 years ago with the aim to decrease the level of differences between rich and poor, with the aim to make Iran Iran again and get rid of Western Influences... and now history repeats.
I remember the days before the first Persian revolution. I was a child and had no idea what was happening. For us kids it was just exciting to see so many people screaming on the streets, and not having school. Little did we know that the revolution, which we were about to have, the change of government would change people's lives. Including my own. Sure, I belonged to one of the families who had ties outside the country and was able to move out again. But the remaining ones are the ones who had to live through a war, through censored media, through lack of food, lack of freedom.
Now the ones who were my age and stayed in Iran have children, who do not even know any other government except this one.
These "children" are the ones who made a new Iran, not a Monarchy, not a Islamic Republic. It is their country. They should be the ones deciding who should be their leader.
all of this said and understood, for me the question comes up why we do not see any democracy in any of the Middle Eastern countries? I guess it is the culture, people's personality of not being able to loose, of not being able to be the leaders. I don;t want to get into the discussion who should have been the leader now in Iran. I guess from my tone it is obvious whose supporter I am. But generally middle eastern cultures have a temper, which does not let them be well balanced. So what happened to Saidi's words? I guess Iranians all have his books, read them, and leave it as is. Except the new generation. My heart aches when I see the news and see faces full of hope of change. Their hope destroyed through more force. Why? Because in all the political talk the older Iranian generation seems to have forgotten what the aim of humanity should be. Iranians of the older generation who do not support this change should be ashamed, the ones who do not see the inequality should be ashamed. Come on, we were the people of Cyrus the Great, the one who was the first to write down Human Rights! What happened? I guess more people will die, more battles will be fought just to prove humanity.

MAXX

A couple of days ago I saw the Persian movie MAXX. When I read about the story, I thought: Hhm, does not sound bad, but it’s a musical. And to be honest, I am not a big fan of those.
The first 15 minutes of the movie were so là là, but after that: I nearly fell of from my seat from laughing so much! I read in other reviews, and I have to agree with this, that the movie is more funny and understandable when you are somewhat familiar with the Iranian culture and when you speak Persian, since many details would get lost in translation.
The story is easy and straightforward: A musician is invited to Iran after 20 years. However, there is a misunderstanding in the name, and hence, instead of a classical musician, an Iranian pop-artist ends up in Tehran. The number of misunderstandings and awkward situations adds up through the movie while musical interjections enhance the awkwardness. However, the funniest things for me were the comments and the way the pop artist behaved in Iran. Persian, like any other language developed throughout the time. The same way no one speaks the Shakespearian English, no one speaks the same Farsi from Hafez anymore. Max (The main character) comes back to Iran with the Farsi he had 20 years ago plus Americanized vocabulary and at times he ends up translating certain expressions straight from English into Farsi or hears Iranian expressions, and uses them at the wrong places.
It reminded me of myself when I went to Iran the very first time at the age of 20. My mother had to ask a family member to watch over me, so that I would not bring myself into embarrassing situations. I remember the time I was invited at my mom’s cousins house, where a lot of Iranian poets, film makers, and other intellectuals were invited. My poor mother just left the room for 5 minutes, and heard the loud laughing from the room were I was. She knew… I was asked how I liked Germany and the life as an Iranian-German. I answered that my parents had- unfortunately- send me to a catholic girls school, which I was not too fond of. I said that as a child I liked much more playing with boys, and that now… I liked playing with men. (What I really meant was: dealing with men.!!!)

From then on, my mother asked me just to keep quiet and answer questions with Yes, No, or O.K. only. Well, I was told by an older relative: “Ghorbunet beram, inshallah, Nina djoon!”, which literally translates to: “May I sacrifice myself for you, my dearest Nina?”. Instead of saying very modestly, that I would rather sacrifice myself for her (Nah, ghorbeneh shoma!!!), I answered: O.K. (Baasheh!), which turned everyone around us laughing, and my mother giving me mad looks.
I have not been to Iran in a long time now. Somehow, my mother always finds excuses… I guess now I know why.