Twice today I had to close the door of my office, just for a few minutes, to allow the tears. The frightened bursts of communication coming from the people of Iran gave me the visual of a light dimming. The light of hope and peace that seemed so bright last Monday was being dimmed by the relentless pounding of black batons, and worse.
During one of these emotional interludes I caught myself, for a moment, thinking "Wow, almost everyone around would think I'm overreacting. Am I overreacting?" I soon recalled something I read from William Wilberforce: "If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.” By the time I was collecting myself, it seemed crazy NOT to be reacting to the suffering. Real people are being killed, beaten and terrorized.
It was Tuesday around ten in the evening, when I first heard of my son’s arrest. I got shocked and I found myself in total despair. Amin is only seventeen years old and is currently in eleventh grade and attending the program in his school. I immediately started to look for him, experiencing very hard and painful moments. Moments that neither cinema nor any other kind of art will ever be able to express. What I went through and witnessed that night is not easy to describe…I had no idea where they had taken my son to, therefore I stared looking in every ambulance, every police station and every hospital in town. I came face to face with other parents looking for their children as well. Mothers screaming and calling the names of their sons and daughters. Fathers weeping silently. Terrified kids in police stations awaiting their faith…it was a total nightmare.
As I mentioned a few days ago, the close proximity (via technology) of this suffering makes it unique and adds the personal dimension I'm just not used to in world politics. I don't get to read the blog of a mourning North Korean mother whose son was falsely accused and publicly executed. I don't get frantic Twitter updates from a woman in the Congo as she tries to escape the militia's rape squads. I didn't have fresh cell phone video of the last moments of the 50-60 Iraqis killed by a bomb in Baghdad today. It's hard to imagine my reaction if I did have that access. I'm almost thankful I don't, but it's no less real.
Am I overreacting? I think I've barely even begun to react...
2 comments:
I definitely felt a shift yesterday as well. As I read the terrifying accounts and heard the desperation in the voice of the caller on CNN, I wondered when I became a bystander to a human rights travesty.
Thanks for being a fanatic. Now back to the question of what we do about it.
Thanks for the post. I've been a news-avoider for awhile now, as much of the "news" I've received is anything but. I've also been pretty inwardly focused over the past few weeks.
That being said, I've taken time today to get connected to the events in Iran; my desire to do so is partially fueled by your response via Twitter/blog. Thanks for taking the time to paint a picture of your reaction to the events.
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