More
Common Sense please…
The Iranian
file is brought on the table of the United Nations Security
Council and here I am running from one bazaar to another…
Everywhere you see fine coats, dresses of every color, tired
salesmen and ones who are “worried to look outdated”… The
country has gone shopping…
The United
Nations Security Council has approved the draft resolution
proposing additional sanctions on Iran and I am after the
traveler checks passing from hand to hand. Furniture worth
thousands of dollars, pants from Thailand, Turkish fabrics
and Chinese made chairs and tables… Yes. The world is
manufacturing for countries like us to consume. This is the
global world order where on one side we have certain
decisions and embargos and a flood of foreign goods pouring
on us on the other! The brand of cars our teens own have
become their ID’s. Flirting teens jam the streets for hours
and we are choked up by exhaust gases and fumes. Tehran…In
this huge city the bookshops are on wholesale or selling
books for almost nothing due to “change of business”. Why
the change of business? I’ll tell you why. Because the
shopkeeper chooses to sell coats, bags or mobiles rather
than books! Because no one reads anymore in today’s world
where costs are getting higher and higher each day… No one
has the urge to read anymore… The books with astonishing
covers are being used for decorative purposes. For those who
object: let’s try something. You can give a book as a
present instead of money on Newroz feast. The ones who
receive your present will look at you as if a clown was
standing before them and will laugh secretly… Well then,
what has happened to our deep rooted past? Our bodies are
shaking with an eagerness to earn more and we are consuming
the rest of our lives shopping at bazaars. We are now
estranged to our very own culture… We are striving with each
other to buy more at the bazaar. Yes, Shahram Jazayeri is
caught with a bloody face… Shahram and those who took money
from him will be the victims of this game… But stop and look
around you for a second… You will see thousands of Shahram
Jazayeris. Stores worth trillions and billion dollar
shoppings… Someone like Shahram needs to be a victim now and
then for us to forget that we are both the criminal and the
executioner.
Yes. The
era in which the leftist ideology reigned is now over. The
time of the rightists has not yet reached our country.
Actually, the “modern right” in the west is also pilfering.
However, in the meantime they are improving production
centers day by day and handing out money to workers to make
a living, but in our country “burdened by so-called fear of
religion”, excess of smuggled goods has paralyzed the
production centers… workers have been going home empty
handed for months… But who cares?
One needs
to get realistic at this point… How are all these goods
smuggled into our country? “Who is gobbling down the many
smuggled goods?” Go to the bazaar and take a walk for the
answers and you will find them. I did so and a little girl
selling hankies caught my attention. I came up to her and
drew out a banknote of 1,000 Tumans for Newroz feast… She
took the money and gave me three of her hankies. Then she
said, “I am not a beggar”. I stood there staring with
surprise… I followed her until she disappeared…That little
girl was one of those people overlooked in this shopping
bazaar… Who would remember her anyway? Believe me, sometimes
I wish embargo was imposed on our country. So that maybe,
just maybe we can understand and remember some of the things
just like that little girl… Spring has arrived. Are you
aware? Let us recover from this shopping syndrome and be
kind to one another… Please let us be more sensitive.
