Tuesday
January 25, 2000
Iran. What a land
Iran. What a land. What a people.I have lived away from it for almost
30 years, but, have visited frequently. I love the country, the people,
the desert, the brick walls, the trees, the crows, and the trenches of
water that run in every direction.
I am so saddened by the conditions in Iran. The pollution, poverty,
dirt, illiteracy, lack of medicine and medical facilities. At a time when
the world is accelerating toward technology to better human's living conditions,
Iran is holding back the people in the dark ages.
"Internet" is sold by Kilo-Bytes, making it expensive and
impractical for many. What do you think would happen if Iranians got educated?
Tehran is drowned in its smoke. People are dying at ages of 40 and 50 of
heart attacks and strokes due to stress and over-exhaustion by working
two jobs.
Then, we crowd the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery and mourn the dead for days
and weeks and...The dead receive the computerized system at Behesht-e-Zahra,
but the hospitals do not have computers. We build Mosques and Shrines,
but many people do not have clean drinking water. They have to travel miles
to get medicine for their children, yet, can not call a doctor on the phone,
because there are no phone lines in their town. Living conditions are so
hard that people are only surviving.
Schools are closed due to smoke. Children's lungs are too small for
all the poison. When they go to school, they are taught things like Mossadegh
was against the nationalization of oil and Ayatollah Kashani was the one
promoting it. They are taught "Death to America", but never "Long
Live Iran".
Due to lack of organization and planning, due to take-over of lands
and animals in the country-side, millions have lost what little that they
had and have moved to Tehran, investing all their money in a 30-year-old
Peykan to haul people around. Official "number" by government
is 400,000. Official number of taxis is 30,000!
The pollution is so bad that one of the geniuses has proposed to put
a hole (or several holes) in the Tochal mountains to push the smoke out
to the Caspian!! The problem is the Mountains not us!
A.Forati
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