A letter from Father to Son
I got this from fellow blogger Pedestrian’s blog. It is a letter from a former POW of the Iran-Iraq War by the name of Ashgar Hashemi to his son who was imprisoned during the protests of these past months. I wanted to share it.
“Sourena, my son, there was a day long ago when your picture was a witness to my constant pleading eyes. We were entrenched amidst dirt and fire, but we would go on everyday, we would go on for the safety and security of our land.
You were the most precious thing to me in this land, I was there to protect you, to be your knight in shining armor, and I was not alone, we were thousands …
One day, a day as bitter as today, the skies poured rockets and bombs, and the earth became the grave of hundreds of courageous men … They went on an eternal sleep while smiling with the memory of their mothers, wives and children and they were calm knowing that no bomb or rocket could harm them again.
I too got my share with the blood that had soaked my boots and the wires that were piercing my body. I was a captive, a prisoner, but I was at once happy and content knowing of your happiness, your safety, your freedom …
We were the lost men of those years, and year after year, one after another we would die of old battle wounds, under torture … there was no sign of us anywhere. We were lost and forgotten.
All I could do during those years was to pray from the bottom of my heart to see you free. With my fellow soldiers I prayed that you would not see any harm.
But the deep bitterness of today is leagues beyond what I experienced before … you are a captive now, you are in prison, you do not smile … Over a month has passed and I see no signs of you but your captivity …
I am ashamed. What if you have inherited captivity from me?
Why am I alone today? Where are the soldiers along whom I fought? What will I do if they are the ones harming you? What if they do not know? What if they do not know that you have been fighting by my side since you were two? What if they do not know of bullets you endured for me?
I am alone …
My dear Sourena, I have not forgotten the events at the University of Zanjan:
Those who raped the children of this land can not be the ones who were at my side during battle!
Those who scream and shout in violence are not the soldiers who were by my side in battle!
Those who have imprisoned you, have robbed you of the opportunity to attend school, they are not the soldiers who fought with me in battle!
I know those soldiers very well!
Let me believe that these violent men of today are not those soldiers! These men of today are intruders who know nothing of this land or its people.
Let me believe that every last soldier was martyred in that war and I was kept alive to suffer today …
Once long ago, I gave everything I had for your freedom … Now that you are not free, I give everything I have for your safety …
And for the opportunity to see you once more …
~Asghar Hasemi”
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What an honest and truthful letter filled with emotion. God bless both the father and his son and protect them from the tyranny of this regime. We live and die for FREEDOM.
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I can’t stop my tears no more. I lost my dad in the same war, my beloved dad who was everything but a man for aggression. He hated tyranny, he would be in the jails if he was alive today, i feel so betrayed because i lost my dad because of our country and not for this pity dictatorship to be nurtured, i am so furious for the fact that they arrested our friend and the husband of another friend is just there in prison. it is hurts to stay away and stay on a safe side, it hurts even more to let the kids be in the jails and some be hanged. What are they doing to the children of Iran, and who they really are, I cannot figure out. it is a very hard choice to me, because even if you try to stay out of the whole thing, you cannot control the passions that set fire to all your supressed needs to scream out. What are these people doing to us?
Sorena my brother, the beloved son of my wounded country, of the country that the one who rules it hates it, your name is the name of one of the greatest Iranian wariors, you are already winning my man, they failed with all their greed and ambitions as they jailed you, tortured you or not, they denied the one who is future of this country, oh they are so done with my man. There will come a day that we will celebrate, never to let the greiving shadows spread their hateful wings over the beautiful skeis of our land. Viva Iran, Viva Middle east, Viva democracy, Viva freedom,
I am grateful to the lebanese women and men of intellect who supported our green and and silent anger, I am grateful to the Israeli athlete who dedicated the medal to Zahra Rahnavard, the lady who is showing more guts that all people around her, and I am just so worried for her, I am as worried for her as I was for Buto, ah, G-d help these voices reach your heavens, for we have no one else to turn to.
Elinor Bat Noah
Iran