Just a few words from three great Iranian women to ponder.
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain from becoming too ruthless. Outside the sphere of literature only one aspect of individuals is revealed. But if you understand their different dimensions you cannot easily murder them. . .
Azar Nafisi - From Reading Lolita in Tehran
The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.
Shirin Ebadi
It's time to mow the flowers,
don't procrastinate.
Fetch the sickles, come,
don't spare a single tulip in the fields.
The meadows are in bloom:
who has ever seen such insolence?
The grass is growing again:
step nowhere else but on its head.
Blossoms are opening on every branch,
exposing the happiness in their hearts:
such colorful exhibitions must be stopped.
Bring your scalpels to the meadow
to cut out the eyes of flowers.
So that none may see or desire,
let not a seeing eye remain.
I fear the narcissus is spreading corruption:
stop its displays in a golden bowl
on a six-sided tray.
What is the use of your ax,
if not to chop down the elm tree?
In the maple's branches
allow not a single bird a moment's rest.
My poems and the wild mint
bear messages and perfumes.
Don't let them create a riot with their wild singing.
My heart is greener than green,
flowers sprout from the mud and water of my being.
Don't let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.
Simin Behbahani, the Lioness of Iran
Translation. by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa, Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Lit (Arcade). THis poem was found here
As much as I loathe the mullahs, Ahmadinejad and his lackeys, the Waffen SS-alikes that are the Revolutionary Guards and the Einsatzgrupen in being that are the Baseej militia units (I hope to see each and every one of these bastards crushed, but by the people of Iran), any pre-emptive strike on Iran would be a disaster. It legitimise each and every one of these scumbags and as the people fall in behind leaders it would destroy the opposition movement at a stroke.
Perhaps it is time for the hawks to take a step back and stop swinging their tiny little dicks for a moment. Perhaps it would allow time for the addled little brains to engage.
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain from becoming too ruthless. Outside the sphere of literature only one aspect of individuals is revealed. But if you understand their different dimensions you cannot easily murder them. . .
Azar Nafisi - From Reading Lolita in Tehran
The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.
Shirin Ebadi
It's time to mow the flowers,
don't procrastinate.
Fetch the sickles, come,
don't spare a single tulip in the fields.
The meadows are in bloom:
who has ever seen such insolence?
The grass is growing again:
step nowhere else but on its head.
Blossoms are opening on every branch,
exposing the happiness in their hearts:
such colorful exhibitions must be stopped.
Bring your scalpels to the meadow
to cut out the eyes of flowers.
So that none may see or desire,
let not a seeing eye remain.
I fear the narcissus is spreading corruption:
stop its displays in a golden bowl
on a six-sided tray.
What is the use of your ax,
if not to chop down the elm tree?
In the maple's branches
allow not a single bird a moment's rest.
My poems and the wild mint
bear messages and perfumes.
Don't let them create a riot with their wild singing.
My heart is greener than green,
flowers sprout from the mud and water of my being.
Don't let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.
Simin Behbahani, the Lioness of Iran
Translation. by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa, Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Lit (Arcade). THis poem was found here
As much as I loathe the mullahs, Ahmadinejad and his lackeys, the Waffen SS-alikes that are the Revolutionary Guards and the Einsatzgrupen in being that are the Baseej militia units (I hope to see each and every one of these bastards crushed, but by the people of Iran), any pre-emptive strike on Iran would be a disaster. It legitimise each and every one of these scumbags and as the people fall in behind leaders it would destroy the opposition movement at a stroke.
Perhaps it is time for the hawks to take a step back and stop swinging their tiny little dicks for a moment. Perhaps it would allow time for the addled little brains to engage.
3 comments:
If only we still had statesmen (and women) instead of politicians.
Keeping my fingers crossed anyway.
I hope cooler heads prevail on all sides.
Here's hoping!
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