Thursday
January 25, 2001
Let me go to Iran
In response to "Hell
no", I have to agree in some ways with the author. I am a young
Iranian living in the U.S. and I cannot stand it. Unfortuanatley I have
never been to Iran, but that does not mean I do not want to go there. I
have probably asked my parents every day to let me go.
If you think it was hard growing up Iranian in Europe, try growing up
Iranian in the U.S. I havehad to deal with so many narrow-minded people
who when they think of Iran they think of Arabs, Iraq, the hostage crisis,
and the movie "Not Without My Daughter", which has caused endless
headaches. I have had to correct people constantly: "No we are not
Arabs", "Iran and Iraq are two different countries", and
"Not all Iranians are like the people in the movie."
It's so hard to hold on to your identidy, you start forgetting your
language, and many of my friends do not evevn try to speak Farsi anymore
except to impress their parents by speaking a few ill-pronounced words.
A couple days ago, someone asked me, "If Iran is so messed up, why
do you want to go there?" It was hard to answer, I said it s just
a feeling of incompletnes I have. The country is beautiful, and no matter
what the people do to it.
Every day I see Iraninan youth acting more like Americans, and losing
their manners and honor that comes with being Iranian. But I also seee
many Iranian youth speaking Farsi as soon as they get home from school,
reading about Iran, eating Iranian food, and discussing Iran's future.
So it gives some hope thatnot all Iranian you have been "Americanized"
but you have to keep in mind that some parents do force their chidren to
become "Americanized" so it's not entirely the chid's fault.
Maral
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