If I Was An Iranian ...

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

If I was an Iranian
By Aliza Land

As an American, I often find it difficult to step into other people's shoes. Sometimes I have to take a step back and look at the part of me that has been oppressed in the past in order to understand the other. I find it difficult to detach myself from what I am reading and often see parts of my own history and the history of my people in what I am reading. I draw connections between my history and the history and collective conscience of my people (the Jewish people) and our long history of oppression and discrimination in order to understand that of the Iranians and thus my reaction and emotions surrounding what we have learned come from that place in me.

If I was an Iranian I would be pissed off. For my whole life, and my parents' whole lives and the lives of those of the generations before them, we have been fighting for the freedom to live our lives how we want to live our lives—in a way that is meaningful to us and embodies our values. And yet every time we manage to get our country, our land and our resources to ourselves, something gets in the way, whether it is-by war, a coup or being declared "evil".

If I was an Iranian I would feel frustrated. Used for my country's resources. Frustrated because my way of life and my traditions are not understood by outsiders, and rather than try to understand us they try to impose their "better" way of life on us. Why are Iranians not allowed to transform their society on their own without outside intervention?