The faces, not the places

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I'm back home after a long trip that started with my losing my plane ticket, followed by another plane hitting ours at the gate (delaying our flight by 24 hours, after we'd been in the airport all night), and ending with landing in Burlington during a snowstorm, where the visibility was so low the pilot was ready to turn back to JFK.

The last leg of the trip was a blur--full of long bus rides and less than 24 hours in Esfahan, Yazd and Qom.  Fortunately, I've spent time in both Esfahan and Yazd before.  I would have liked to spend more, but we just ran out of time.

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I'm going to then summarize some final impressions here of this trip to Iran, rather than give the blow-by-blow (the bus accident, killer on the loose in Esfahan, and those sensational details...).

At one point, when discussing future trips, Mark mentioned the faces, not the places, a concept I'm very much in favor of in terms of emphasis.  While some of the ruins and palaces are interesting and show aspects of the civilization, the impressions that last for me are those of the people I've met and the conversations I had.  It is through these contacts I think we most discovered the soul which inhabits Iran today.  It is a complex and diverse soul--one in conflict with itself, in many ways, while at the same time in harmony with an ancient culture rooted in Zoroastrian tradition, manifested mainly by Islam.  One thing I couldn't find anywhere were terrorists.  No suicide bombers.  No fanatics wanting to kill westerners.  I'm sorry to disappoint any Fox News/ CNN watchers (I recommend switching your Middle Eastern news source to Mosaic on Link TV, if you can get it).  When I got on the Jet Blue connection from JFK to Burlington, the on-flight TV came on, and I flipped through channels right to Fox, where their "expert" described what a great threat Iran still is, how they want to wipe Israel off the map, how Achmedinijad is a madman (yes, but more so that G.W. Bush?).  It was back to the politics of the media, overstated, one-sided, and lacking any real context or understanding of its subject.  They didn't even offer a dissenting voice.   I wouldn't attempt to defend the Iranian government by any means; they are guilty of many human rights violations and have their share of hardliner fanatics.  However, they do not have a history of attacking other nations; they are in fact, a nation weary of war since their long, bloody incursion with Iraq.  Iranians will tell you that Shi'a beliefs prohibit nuclear war, suicide bombings, and terrorist attacks (those were the Sunnis!).  But does the Iranian government support Hizbollah and Hamas?  The same way the U.S. government supports combatants in foreign lands that represent our own interests.  Let's not forget Iran-contra.

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And now the latest intelligence shows that there is no current program for nuclear weapons in Iran.  Meanwhile, the Bush administration hasn't backed off from its rhetoric of confrontation, the drumbeat of war.  Just after 9-11, people took to the streets in Tehran holding candlelight vigils for the victims.  The "Death to America" chant stopped altogether at Friday prayer.  When we attacked Afghanistan, it was with the aid of Iran.  Instead of using either of these as opportunities for constructive dialogue, we stamped them with the "axis of evil" label.

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Now, given the recent intelligence information, perhaps we have another opportunity to come to the table and discuss the complex issues surrounding Israel, terrorism, Iraq, and peace in the Middle East.  The problem is, we don't have anyone in power able to take advantage of this opportunity.  And one has to wonder how many more will come along.

Through bus windows I looked out at the Iran desert, the flatlands of nothingness inhabited only by ruins--mud-and-brick, stone-and-mortar shells of structures that once were.  Places where people fled, for one reason or another.  A landscape hard and unforgiving, dry and barren.  Watching a figure in the distance sow seeds in this parched land seemed at once optimistic and hopeless.  Yet the soil is tilled, and from even this rough, terrible piece of earth, something grows.