I went to see the movie Argo with my dad. I had chosen this movie because I felt it would be one that would be of interest to my dad, not myself- how I was very wrong. The movie brought on a truth that was not only a reality back in the 70’s but one that is still very real today. As I felt my dad’s energy, one that remembers and still harbors the emotions of an Iran that was and is, an Iran that doesn’t provide opportunity, I felt ashamed.
As a Persian Canadian I have been ignorant and in many ways have done so knowingly. Privileged my whole life, I somehow felt justified to my frivolous complaints. Ones as silly as having to work long hours causing me to pay $400 a month in dog daycare seemed up until tonight, just. Up until now I felt sorry for myself that I even had to work, sorry that I had to do anything I didn’t want to. I somehow forgot to be grateful. I, just like so many other immigrants who come from a society that struggles has forgotten. We have misplaced our values and somehow have justified living without living for worth. We have forgotten the struggles our families made to bring us the opportunity of possibility.
And so I am choosing to bow down in the race of what’s what. The ones where the men take pride in who slept with more women, rather than show love to one special women. The ones where girls flaunt their latest labeled purse, forgetting that girls just like ourselves are starving and many abused beyond our imagination.
The real value lies in the moment we take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead of us. The ones that exist simply by the fact that we live where we do. I’m remembering why my parents left everything behind. The struggles they had so I never would. This is why I am choosing to be grateful that I can dream dreams that can become possibilities. That this is the value I was given.
I’m choosing to bring some kind of validation in why I was given the opportunity for a chance, and many others weren’t. And because of this I will work hard without complaints to make my dreams become realities.
I will place value where it is meant to lie; I will give before I receive and most importantly I will be grateful every day that I live where I do. I will do this not only for my parents, who struggled to bring me these opportunities but also for those who weren’t given any opportunity. The ones that are young just like myself but don’t dare to dream. Because they know that no matter how many times they close their eyes, fantasize and hope they are always awaken to a world without possibilities. For them believing and dreaming is not enough and may never be.
I will for those who couldn’t.
