What are you doing for your country?

I did a few things (not much by any measure ...)

During the war I took responsibility for the tuition and expenses of few university students in Kerman University (Medical School) -- thanks to my colleague who was a medical doctor,a professor,  and a clinic owner there. Later I have contributed to orphenages and organizations who take care of kids without parents or kids who suffer from illnesses and their families cannot afford their medical expenses (therefore left in some sort of public clinic/hospital -- hazrat zahra, etc. type places). Since I did my undergrad in Iran, today I have former colleagues in several iranian universities, and I take best of their grad students that they recommend with scholoarships in universities. Not many, but as much as I can afford with my limited grants.

I love that country and its great people and will do anything to help them as far as I can afford. I think Iranian people are the greatest on the face of earth and have been victims of bunch of idiots and blood suckers (domestic and foriegn). Nothing that happens in Iran today or in recent history after the revolution  surprises me given the full knowledge I have about the histry of that great nation especially since 1953. I think there are many ways that we all can help, specailly young and smart people who really need our help in Iran today. I would be interested to form a club/organization (not necessarily in US due to sanction, but through Europe) to collect funds, pruchase equipment for university labs, buy medical supplies, etc and send to Iran. I have good contacts there and I think we can get the help in the right hands of people who really really need them.

regards.

Z/B

To: Anonymousmm and Raastgoo

I appreciate your responses.

Do you think that it is not possible to do anything at all for your country right now - right this minute? There must be something we could do. No?

When did supporting NIAC

When did supporting NIAC become part of helping Iran or Iranians? Perhaps you
mean helping the Islamic Republic, eh?

I'm sure everyone gives their family members advice on how to improve their lives...that's a given if you care about your family and relatives,

Writing on this site to generate support for the Islamic Republic is not exactly helping Iran and Iranians...

Also, inciting hate against America or the American governement in the long run is not a good receipe to help Iran and Iranians...

Do you support the Islamic Republic and her foreign policy? Do you believe in Ayatollah Khamnei as a Supreme Leader of Iran? Do you think the Islamic Republic should continue to fund terrorist organizations? Do you the Islamic Republic's interests are one and the same as Iranian nation's interest???

To: Abarmard

Thanks for your response.

I think you shouldn't discount the value of your help. Don't you think that we have a lot more influence on our environment than we normally realize? Besides, I am sure there is more you are doing but you probably downplay it and discount its value. No?

To: Curious Joe

Thanks for your detailed response. I understand your frustration. Many people have similar stories, which is sad.

But tell me something - Who or what exactly is the country that you think owes you? Do people of Iran owe you? Is it the members of the government who owe you? Which ones?

Also, think about this - where did your father get his wealth that should have been inherited by you? Don't you think that the country gave you a lot of things and prepared you, educated you (or paid for your education), provided you with relative peace so that you could go to some country and get educated, etc? Don't you think that you should give something back at all?

One more thing - you don't seem very happy about the outcome of your life. Do you really believe that living in a more socialist country such a Sweden would have made therequired difference for you? Or is it possible that the issue is something else?

What have I done?

I was trying to drag it out of you what you have done but people are asking me to start, so here it is:

- I have kept a clean and good line of communication with my family and friends back home and relayed useful information to them to help them improve their own lives and the lives of people around them. Most of my family consider me as their closest family member, so I think I have been somewhat useful to them.

- Recently I started to financially support NIAC and I plan to gradually increase my contribution on a regular basis. This has given me extra motivation to generate more income.

- I write comments here and I believe that is making a difference. I have tried to write article too but I haven't been able to write something that makes me happy yet.

- There are other groups and organizations I support who somewhat indirectly affect Iran in a positive way. For example, I support groups that promote peace between Israel and its neighbors.

- I keep myself informed about the politics and don't hesitate to talk to people in person or coorect their mis-information when I notice it. I expose the criminality of certain elements of the US government or Israel government and put things in perspective for people that I meet or talk to, so that they have all the information and not just one-sided news.

- I send emails to members of the US government on issues regarding Iran and inform them of my views.

- Once in a while I get a chance to have a discussion with someone who generally consider the West to be an enemy of Islam and therefore finds it necessary to fight the West and try to put things in perspective for them and inform them that the Western governments have also been hijacked by a few elite.

These are not much, but I figure that's a start. Now, let's hear it from you. Don't be shy. It's OK to even admit that one is not doing anything about it. Even that is a start.

I'm sure many of us would go

I'm sure many of us would go back to Iran and could do a great deal of good for Iran and Iranians if the Islamic Republic was not so corrupt and medieval!

Why do we choose to stay in the West? Do we even have a choice?? Why are so many Iranians decide to leave Iran?? Why is such a brain drain??

p.s. What have you done for Iran?? Perhaps if you share what you are doing and have done we can learn from you.

Lots of pointless talk, no meaningful action...

As the lengthy comment by "Curious Joe" proves, most of us Iranians put our own interests before the interest of our country. Most of us are eager to ramble on about the glorious times of Cyrus the Great and how Arabs did this and that to our beloved Iran, but take absolutely no meaningful step to help her in this time of need. The fact that so many people - like "Curious Joe" - packed and left even before shit hit the fan, followed by flocks of people who fled Iran as soon as thing got a bit uncomfortable for them, proves what a bunch of self-centered people we Iranians are. The fact that Iran is the second country in the world in terms of brain-drain (only after India that has a population 200 times that of Iran) is a proof what a bunch of lame people we are. The fact that every hospital you go to in the US has at least a few Iranian doctors, every major university at least a few Iranian professors, and every major company a few Iranian engineers so on and so forth is a proof that we Iranians are generally a bunch of arrogant, care-free, self-absorbed jerks who couldn't care less about what happens to our motherland as long as we are driving in our shiny BMW up and down Westwood.

If all the Iranians who fled Iran in the past 30 years (of course except those whose life was in imminent danger) had stayed and fought for their rights and for the development of their country, there would not have been an Ahmadinejad, a Khamenei, or even an Islamic Republic, and Iran would have been "the Japan of the Middle East" that we all dream off. So, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the deplorable state within which Iran is today...

Not much

Not much. Every year I try to donate to the children who are in orphanage and have cancer in Iran (Anjoman e tavaanbakhshiye bachehaaye aasemaan)

Mehdi.....I think that you just opened up a Pandora's box

!Good luck

Solh va Doosti

ناتاليا

Ask Not ...

Ask not what I can do for my country.  Ask what my country can do for me.

I was born and raised in Iran.  I completed my graduate studies in the west back in the early 1970s. I went back to Iran in mid-70s to do something for my country.  That was a mistake.  I ran away from that country, which I found totally corrupt (under the Shah's regime) with 80% of its population being a bunch of ignorant idiots bending over five times-a-day praying to Allah.  They are still doing it today.  That is why the country is still ruled by a bunch of Mullahs.  Surely, if there was no support by a bunch of ignorant people, the Mullahs could not rule a day longer in 2008.

My attempts to land a decent job in Iran culminated in either having to kiss the asses of the other 20%, becoming as corrupt as they were, deal and wheel in real estate to make a quick buck, or becoming a “Mr. 5% commission”  as a representative of a western company.  Since I had some degree of integrity, I left the f**king place in 1977 before the arrival of Khomeini, and I emigrated to the US.  To this day, I believe that Iran owes me something, because my father sacrificed financially for me to get a decent education and go back “to do something for my country”.  And yet, when he died in 1979, the Mullahs (like a bunch of vultures) took over his house and simply swallowed it.  Yes, that country owes me my inheritance, or as they say in Farsi (man erss-e pedaram ro talabkaaram). Forget about the oil wealth of the country --  “and where is my share?!!”.  So much for Iran as “my country”.  All it has brought me since 1979 is embarrassment, and “nang-o- nekbat”.  To this day, I am ashamed to be associated with a country whose population maintains a regime of the Ayatollahs and Ahmadinejads – all in the mental state of “God Delusion”.  So, it is apt to ask:  What has that country done for me except nang-o-nekbat.

So, I suppose the US is now "my country".  Having been employed full time for over 30 years (and having paid maximum social security every year since 1977), I still cannot afford to retire in this country.  It looks like I will have to work until I drop dead, or commit suicide upon becoming unable to work.  I'd really feel to confront anyone who has the audacity to object when I say “what has this country done for me”.  And please do not BS me with “entrepreneurial opportunities” in the US.  If you do, I’ll show you the statistics of the percentage of people in the US who try entrepreneurialship and fail.  Would you believe it is higher than 90%?  In other words, for every e-Bay CEO or Bill Gates, there are 80 other failed entrepreneurs who were as capable, but were merely not at the right time, at the right place

Frankly, had I spent the last 30 years working in socialist countries of Europe such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, or even France, Netherlands, etc.  I would have been better off today, with ability to retire with some degree of dignity and integrity.  As far as my net ROI in living and working hard in the US (paying fully into the system in taxes, social security, medicare, etc), I now demand to know what this country can do for me.

Well, I would like to know....

?What Mehdi is doing for his country

:o)

Solh va Doosti

ناتاليا