Neda

I can't get over the video that has now gone around the world of a young Iranian woman murdered by the guns of Iran's oppressive regime. If you haven't seen it, watch it now:



If you don't want to watch someone dying, watch it. If you think that her death has no bearing on your life, watch it. If you want to go on living your life, oblivious to the cost other people are paying for freedom, a cost, I might add, that your ancestors were willing to pay so you could sit in your comfortable home, surrounded by your loved ones, watch it. Watch the video, and witness Neda's death. You and I and everyone else, complacent in our comfortable lives, have no idea what it is like to put yourself on the line for values and rights we take for granted. Watch the video and bow your head in honor of Neda's sacrifice. Watch the video and witness someone who paid the ultimate price for her love of freedom. Watch the video and feel shame at your easy life. Watch the video, and look at Neda's eyes. She knows she is dying, and from that fleeting bastion, she hands the torch of freedom to you. Watch her eyes. WATCH HER EYES AS SHE DIES.

Now ask yourself: Would you be willing to hazard your life for freedom? If not, why not? What else better are you going to do with your life?

Riot! The unbeatable high!

On Sunday, a major metropolitan area was locked down. Excited civilians chanted, yelled, burned and fought with police. The sticky-sweet odor of tear gas drifted on the summer breeze, mingling with the choking odor of smoke from scattered bonfires in the streets of the city. Innocent people nervously scurried away from the chanting crowds, fearful for their safety should the threat of violence in the air flash into the real thing. Nervous cops lined their barricades, and out of control crowds worked themselves up into a fevered mass of white hot emotion. Riot was in the air.


Believe it or not, this scene was repeated in not one but two cities yesterday. In Tehran the issue was fair and free elections. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected in a sweeping landslide, opposition leaders claim that the vote was rigged. While I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that any of the candidates would have substantially changed Iran's basic intransigence in international affairs (the real "power behind the throne" is the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and he's dedicated to a nuclear Iran and the destruction of Israel), I am encouraged that the citizens of Iran are willing to go to the mat for their perceived right to vote in a fair election. From such tiny acorns, great forests of freedom can eventually grow. Iran has, in it's people, it's history and it's resources, the ability to be a first world nation. The only thing keeping it from that status is the unfortunate policies of it's ruling council.

In Los Angeles, people rioted because the Lakers won the NBA title.

Tehran:

Photo credit: Tehran Live

Los Angeles:

Photo credit: L.A. Times

I've never been ashamed of my country compared to Iran before. It's an odd feeling.