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Is this peace?

Jun25


The dust has settled

The missiles have been silenced

People are going back to work

But is there peace?

Peace is not the absence of war

Peace is serenity in people’s hearts

Peace is justice in the land 

Peace is love for your fellow man

I pray for the day when won’t need spies

I pray for the day when negotiations will solve the problems that arise

I pray for the day of equality

When demonstrators won’t have to die in the streets

Peace is not the absence of war

Peace is love in our hearts 

June 25, 2025

News from Iran

Jun24

I draw

I listen to the news about Iran in Persian

I cook

I listen to the news from Iran

These scenes were unimaginable ten years ago

Even five years ago

My contact with my Persian classmates 

Has opened my world to news from them

And news from my land of birth

The news is heart breaking most of the time 

Countries being bombed

People getting injured and dying 

I hope that when the dust has settled

There will be freedom in Iran

There will be equality in Iran

There will be justice in Iran

I draw

I listen to the news about Iran

My heart is with the people of Iran

June 24, 2025

No internet

Jun23

No internet?
No phone calls?
What is this?
1985?
When communication was at a turtle’s pace
When we wrote letters and waited
Waited for many days before we received an answer
And in between
Radio silence
Except for the occasional phone call
But now phones don’t work either
What are we supposed to do to communicate?
We live in the age of instant communication
Our lives are built around it
Deprivation is like tying one’s hands behind one’s back
This is unacceptable and unfair
Only fearful people would do that
Those who fear for their very existence
I hope these days will be over soon
And we’ll be in touch with each other as we used to be

June 20th, 2025

War in Iran

Destruction

Jun23

 

Death and destruction 

Worry and consternation

No news from family

Friends in danger

These are dark days

And as much as I dislike this situation

I remain hopeful

That the sacrifices people are making

Will bear fruit

It’s hard to imagine now

But change happens suddenly

And without much notice

The Berlin Wall falls

The Soviet Union shatters 

All in the blink of an eye

We pray for better days

For peace and prosperity 

For justice and unity

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

No matter how dim

May these days of war 

End as quickly as they started 

June 22nd, 2025

War in Iran 

Why do we lie?

Jun21

Why do we lie?

Why is honesty sometimes so hard?

Maybe we think we can go farther with a lie

Maybe we think we can benefit somehow

Sometimes we even lie about who we are

Pretending and acting is not hard 

Sometimes we lie to protect ourselves 

And avoid being caught

There is a price that we’re bound to pay though

And that price will appear like a stain on our soul

The soul is invisible of course, so we don’t see the stain 

But that stain remains and with every lie

Another stain is added as time goes by

The soul that is stained is not a happy soul

It’s not at peace


It seems our life is going well

But it’s not like that 

There can be regret and guilt 

“Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues”

May we grow and develop and choose honesty over deceit 

May 30th, 2025 

Still at war

Jun7



I see a street in ruins

Buildings made to look like rubbles from bombing

Two firefighters are holding up an injured woman on either side 

Her arm in their arms, helping her walk 

What could justify such a scene?

What causes the leaders of a country 

To attack civilians in a war?

Why do we still have wars anyway?

Why does one country need to conquer another one?

Why should one country be threatened by another one? 

Why should the alliances not be international? 

Why do we still have war? 

June 7th, 2025

Gratitude

Jun1


 

Don’t take anything for granted
When you’re walking, be thankful that your ankles don’t hurt as they used to
Be thankful you live in a safe country
Be thankful that your children are healthy
Be thankful that you have a loving family
Be thankful that your cancer is under control
We take somethings for granted
Only when we lose them we realize what we had
I try to notice what I can be thankful for every day

June 1st, 2025

Why do we lie?

May30

Why do we lie?

Why is honesty sometimes so hard?

Maybe we think we can go farther with a lie

Maybe we think we can benefit somehow

Sometimes we even lie about who we are

Pretending and acting is not hard 

Sometimes we lie to protect ourselves 

And avoid being caught

There is a price that we’re bound to pay though

And that price will appear like a stain on our soul

The soul is invisible of course, so we don’t see the stain 

But that stain remains and with every lie

Another stain is added as time goes by

The soul that is stained is not a happy soul

It’s not at peace

It seems our life is going well

But it’s not like that 

There can be regret and guilt 

“Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues”

May we grow and develop and choose honesty over deceit 

May 30th, 2025

Life’s imperfections

May27


My middle-school knitting teacher told us once

That hand-knit works are not meant to be perfect 

If we are looking for perfection

We should machine-knit the sweater 

Imperfections are what make our pieces  a genuine hand-knit item

Life is similar

If every decision we made or path we took, brought us to our final destination 

That would not be life

It would be a play

In life, we choose a path

On our way, we may get lost

We may get distracted 

We may go down the wrong road for a while

But as long as we persist

We’ll arrive at the destination

And if we don’t, that’s OK too

Life is messy

May 27, 2025

why?

May18

It takes a few seconds to destroy a whole neighborhood
And months to rebuild it
Why do we destroy land and buildings where civilians live?
Why do we fight over the ownership of cities and towns
How many innocent soldiers are lost
At the order of those who have bodyguards
Why don’t we value life at all
Sending young people to places
Where many will die
These soldiers and civilians have families
They will be missed immensely
I say the one who orders an attack
Should be in the front lines
Not in their comfortable residence or house

May 18, 2025