Ali Reza Pahlavi’s suicide touched me on different grounds. I felt sorry for a man, an educated man, in his prime and wondered why he did it. What implications this has in Iranian lives, and why on earth the children of this family turned out to be like this. Depressed suicidal people. I also read the material people write about this and find it too much of a post mortem Iranian patronizing nonsense. glorifying the dead person and all. So here are my thoughts:
1- Please don’t call him Prince of Persia! That would kill the only Persian fantasy title remaining. Prince of Persia would go out and slay the bad guys and wins at the end. He wouldn’t put a gun into his own head and kill himself just because the times are bad.
2- Many Iranians lost their world and had to immigrate, for many of them financial and sentimental implications were much more felt than for Pahlavi family. They did their best, even excelled themselves and made a life out of it. If it’s up to our first family, we have had to kill ourselves ages ago.
3- Seriously, the only shred of doubt I had on if the Pahlavi’s are role models and beacons of hope for Iranians, is lost. I think, Reza, apparently the only sane person out of this family, had survided the poison cup, because he married to a decent woman at a young age. I think he speaks and thinks well advanced of the current Iranian mentality frame (just like his dad) and he is not the answer to our problems.
4- When two of your kids commit suicide, that raises serious questions about the quality of your parenthood! That goes to Farah Pahlavi! I know, I know she is hurting. But she needs to think about why her children can’t commit to someone at relatively adult ages and why they end up killing themselves. Are they too good for this world? What the heck, loss of a parent and fall from grace happens to every body! grow up!
5- These are difficult times to be an Iranian. Dodgy government, dodgy people, no replacement. Like it or not, Pahlavi family have to make good, reliable role models for troubled Iranians every where. So get your act together and spare us another tear jerking funeral.
6- Hats off to Reza! He and his grandad are the only two sensible heads that came out of this family anyway! He is a respectable man with a beautiful family. All the best to him. If only he could just get in tune with his times a bit.
I’m sorry if this is not your usual self deceiving, patronizing Iranian post mortem talk, but heck, with claims of community leadership comes responsibility and I’m just so disappointed by this family’s lack of it (Prince Reza somewhat included, although for different reasons). The first one, cute little princess doing it, was sorry, the second one, it’s just becoming a very bad habit!
And Shahbanou, for heaven’s sake, get the other one married before she jumps off the bridge!
