Party Girl

Much like everyone else, my eyes have been fixed on YouTube and Facebook, witnessing events and incidents too macaber to watch, yet too important to miss.  My eyes are tired of scanning and scouring the images, my heart has been heavy and beating too fast for two whole weeks now, and the endless stream of sobs and tears which have overcome me at times, registering the shock of what I have just witnessed, have done little to wash away those images.  Some of them are now seared into my memory and my knowlege forever, stinging my heart and chipping away at my conscience.

I know you have seen those images, too.  I know you have witnessed the savagery and have felt as sick and sad as I have.  Today I want to give your eyes and your minds a break.  Consider it a small gift of peace in the middle of otherwise uncertain and horrible times.  Responding to a call to release green baloons at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, June 26, 2009, many people all over the world gathered to release their balloons which were set free in memory of the fallen victims of the recent days.  As I watched the scenes from city to city all over the world, a peculiar calm and a sense of hope overcame me.  Something very peaceful and poignant about the gesture and the way people did it is visible through these clips.  I thought I would share the hope for a change.  Long live Iran.

Tehran-1:

Tehran-2:

Tehran-3:

Mashhad:

Tehran-4:

Isfahan:

New York-2:

London:

Vancouver:

Amsterdam-1:

Amsterdam-2:

Paris:

Dortmund, Germany:

And this man, Alberto, sings a Spanish song for the women of Iran as he releases his green baloons: