Once upon time, in a small village in the middle of the world lived a wise old man. Having spent many long years sitting on the throne of power, this old man had become a beacon of success and a role model of progress. The grateful villagers loved the old man for all that he had bestowed upon them, and used his teachings as their guiding principles in every step of their lives. People, though, hadn’t realized that the immortality of this old man sprung from his genius new ideas, and that’s what really separated him from all the leaders in the other villages.
A sad day came their way when the great old man finally passed away. Years and years moved along, and one leader after another glorified the past, and at every occasion referred back to their legendary oldman, be it for economy, people matters, or just day to day decisions. The villages around, on the other hand, developed legends of their own and kept progressing as time passed and the earth aged. Yet, our powerful village never moved on and with no sense of the future our people were stuck in the slow moving grains of the once glorious past.
Ladies & gentlemen, open your eyes to the future for you have stared enough into the past. Iran, the land of the Aryans, the cradle of human rights, a civilization that gave birth to many civilizations, WAS a great nation but not anymore. Our people were great people, but I wonder why not anymore? You want to know why? I guess you already do, but are afraid to admit, for we are a nation stuck in the past. I plead to each and everyone one of you to sit and think of the story presented to you.
Iran is the old citizen of the world, if not the oldest. Yet, instead of respecting it, we are leaving its age old strength to weaken by the day. Nations have moved on, people have moved on, and what stays is the power of change. Those who can create change, a dramatic, sustaining, value-added change, are those that will prosper. And those who sit and just reminisce will forever be lost in the memories of time. Let’s make a step change in our mentalities and evolve, for the time of relaxation must now end.
Why have we become like this? Simple, here’s how: A comfort zone is defined as a place or thinking style, in which the person involved is so comfortable in what he/she thinks is the right thing to follow in any situation, that they won’t even bother to think differently. We are so afraid of using the great potential of ourselves and our nation that we have found ourselves the ‘perfect’ comfort zone – our legendary past. Doesn’t make sense at first thought, I agree, but just for a few moments stop, look around you, and think of it…
It’s much easier to be proud of what we were rather than work smart & hard to become, it’s much easier for a rich brat to say I come from a rich family & rely for his entire life on that, rather than go out there and make a true living using the real talent he has. Actually, we are all rich kids, relying on nothing but our rich history, instead of seeing the true potential we have. The answer is simple, it’s time to re-invent.
So, you’re probably now wondering, how do we evolve, how to re-invent? Ironically so, the answer lies in our past! We were a great nation because we worked smart & hard enough to make a change in the world around us, and it was only when we started getting too comfy that we started slipping. Just like in our story, the old man was the reason for progress, and people hadn’t realized why, it was indeed that someone wanted to make a difference, tried and succeeded.
Now that we have slipped back, it seems as though we really don’t care. Professional whiners we have become, for all we do is immediately find the easiest excuse in order to keep lying down. We need to train our minds some discipline; we need to teach our children to act and not talk. Listen, I’m not talking about changing the world overnight, or overthrowing any regime, all I am saying is let’s make an effort.
How? Easy, from today on, every time you want to complain about the regime, talk proudly about the past, or just simply say all is lost, stop yourself and ask yourself: “What can I do, starting today, and over the next few months, to help my nation & my people?” It needn’t be go and kill Mr. X, it can be in a small thing you’re good at: economically (donating money, starting a business,…etc.), journalistically (blog, poems, articles, letters,…), politically?, helping your fellow hamvatan, and so on. I believe the best way is economically, in any shape or form. All this is easy, but what next? Here comes the trick….It’s actually at every achievement, instead of patting yourself on the back, raise the bar for yourself and set yourself a new challenge, use your skills to find solutions, and then use those solutions to repay your country!
We must become pioneers, we must make an effort, we must focus on finding solutions, I repeat finding solutions, rather than seeing only problems, for if we don’t this old man will die. We are the organs of this old citizen, and if we don’t work, he will collapse. Time for action has come, and the journey should start today, so beat the challenges, and make the difference!
