An American in Tehran

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Our friend rued the building’s shabbiness. His parents had lived there since before the revolution, when apartments belonging to members of the Shah’s cabinet and other prominent people were confiscated and given to families of martyrs, men from the south of Tehran or the countryside killed in the war with Iraq. The new people pretty much trashed the place and later sold their apartments, but after twenty-five years some remained. All these years the building had been poorly maintained. Our friend had been encouraging members of the tenants association to contribute three thousand dollars per apartment for repairs and upgrades to the elevators, lobbies, and common areas, but no one trusted anyone. People feared that the person in charge would take the money or that it would be unwisely spent. He couldn’t convince them that the value of their apartments was dropping and unless repairs were made it would reach a point where they would be impossible.

Much about America is admired around the world -- its popular culture, consumer goods, and its former democracy and generosity -- though this is rapidly changing as it becomes an empire. A cultivated, thoughtful lady who spends part of her year in Canada and part in Tehran working in her family’s business told us that visiting us at home would be difficult, because her Canadian passport reflects her origins and she is not welcomed at the border. When we pressed her to find a way to come, she said that as much as she likes us, she dislikes the US too much to visit. Another friend had enough of the US at college in Denver, and though she has friends and family here would rather spend her vacations elsewhere.

Having heard Americans speak disparagingly of foreign places they’ve traveled, it was refreshing to have a few foreigners do us the courtesy of returning the favor. This summer I happened to visit Jordan, France, Turkey, and Iran, and talked with people from still other places. People everywhere are well informed about the world and the US, and we would do well to listen to their comments.

Travel is a wonderful thing. You get away from the grind, see beautiful things, and acquire new perspectives. In Europe and North America toilets are fixtures with a seat seventeen inches above the floor and a roll of paper nearby for wiping. In the Middle East they are a hole in the floor bracketed by two platforms for your feet and a faucet or hose nearby for cleansing. Some Americans find this risible and primitive. An Indian friend says that in her mother’s opinion, civilization, in its course from India westward, ends at Greece, where water is no longer plumbed beside the toilet and people are forced to use that unsanitary paper.

[indian_blues]

this is damn true.