 Your loss
Does it really matter what a Westerner would
say about our culture?
Sanaz Fotouhi
March 2, 2005
iranian.com
Last week, for the first time in many years, I
spent a day among the people of my country, sharing a tradition,
feeling
my religion. It was a touching experience,
to see so many young people driven by their culture, and mourning the loss the
great leader Imam Hossein. The energy, the presence, even if only for face, and
participation of so many people made me believe that in the days when we mostly
feel that Iranians are loosing themselves and their own culture to Satellite
television and Western culture, there's still a root of belief and sense of belonging
that will not let our nation fall into the abyss of miseries.
On the
other hand, this morning when reading "Hossein
hocus pocus" I was so
enraged and angered by the comments of an author, with the pseudonym of "Pesare
Gol"
(who, I believe doesn't have the bravery to admit his real name), that my
heartbeat increased rapidly, and I decided that there's no way that I can
hold out my reply to rude commentary about a culture, any culture,
mine or others.
A culture is a web of events, created through the
centuries through language, religion, celebrations and respect
and most of all understanding of
these events
and how they affect our lives today. To a person like "Pesare
Gol" who sits in
I don't know where and flips his satellite TV, and is "angered and dumb founded
as to how anyone can spend one minute of their precious life mourning the loss
of a man from another era," I say that you are right, that for you and the
likes of you it is a dumb founding event because you should mourn
your own loss first
before reaching the understanding of mourning for another person. It is your
kind who have sold our country and religion and culture to
the West.
Does it really matter what a Westerner would say
to this culture? Isn't that the biggest of our problems? Our people
care too much about what
others' think.
Does the Westerner care what WE think when he celebrates Christmas, or mourns
Jesus' crucification to the extent of some people crucifying themselves to
the cross? I don't think they particularly know much about Jesus, the
apostles or the Bible. (Trust me on this I have gone partially through a
catholic school
system) If you familiarize yourself with the Christian calendar, (and perhaps
other cultures) you will find that it is even more eventful that the Muslim
one.
Almost every day is the day of a different saint
and every day has a prayer for that particular saint. So, don't
think
that the mourning and celebration of great
characters of history is particularly unique to our system of belief. And I
don't think it is a crazy idea if Americans came to the streets
and beat themselves
if they have the understanding of what they are doing. It is their way of life,
and it should be respected.
On another note, is it equally dumb founding that
hundred of Japanese men ride down on a log down a hill every year, believing
who ever makes it down to the bottom on the log is to have a long life of
virility? Do we laugh at that, or do we dismiss it as hocus pocus?
Or do we not say anything
to do that because we believe the Japanese
on another level of culture? By such differences of point of view, on
how we see our own culture and how we see others, we let the hand of Orientalism
deliberately push us down the inevitable drain of lack of self-respect.
 In fact, I personally know of Western people and Asian people who are so
fascinated by the events of Tasooa-Ashoora in Iran and who participated in
the events in
Tehran, wanting to know more about what's going on with awe and amazement,
a genuine
sense of wanting to know, not disdain, as unfortunately some of our countrymen
hold.
Yes, I, like many, don't deny that this government
has not done the best to advertise our religion and has misled
our concept of what it truly
is.
But,
this doesn't
mean that we, ourselves, should not investigate into the truth of what
we are told to believe. Even if we want to rebel we have to rebel
with understanding,
even if we want to change we have to change with understanding.
In fact,
Tasooa-Ashoora, having been a week after the 26th celebration of the victory
of the Islamic Revolution, which was not as highly celebrated, was in contrast
a
huge event
with many participants. This shows that the events of Tasooa-Ashoora were
organized by the will and from the heart of the people, not the will of
the politicians.
This shows that people are not blindly following what they are told and
there's still a foundation of belief at the bottom of it all.
Our
children are becoming more aware. They are aware of the value
of the real heroes of the war, a war which was pushed upon us by the west,
exactly because
of our own lack of self-confidence about who we are and what we wanted
as a nation. Our youths are learning the value of their own culture, as
well the value of
Western culture. True that they should learn about the genius of Newton
but along side it they should also be taught the genius of our cultural
and religious leaders.
 To you and anyone who thinks
this process is ridiculous, I repeat again, you should mourn the loss
of yourself first. If it wasn't for these great
leaders
fighting their way for us, and if we were to betray ourselves and their
hardship for us, we would have been worse off that we already are.
We would have been
crushed by the same white man who supposedly laughs at our tradition
to make us feel dumb, and when we feel dumb he comes into our
country and
steals
our resources, our culture and our future. Then we would have really
fallen down
the abyss of misery but instead we still hold on.
*
*
|
Your loss
