Nostalgic

A few moments ago I had a talk with one of my old friends. He is a friend from college days & used to hang out with the gang whenever he was around. He just called me up out of the blue & we talked a good half an hour.
This suddenly made me really nostalgic. I miss the school days... I miss my friends. Why couldn’t be forever? We grew up & drifted apart, going on different ways. Sometimes our roads cross & I always wondered if we could maintain our friendship; whether the intimacy would survive....
Tonight I learned that friendship never dies; it never subsides.... the friend mentioned & I had not been talking for over a year, still the conversation wasn’t formal or cold. It was like the old days that we used to talk about nothing forever. So yes; I believe true friendship survives....
Ps: Mat I wish you could read this... I wish you would read my Persian blog... I miss you a lot. We need your friendship.... I wish you would be back to yourself... don’t let your emotions for someone else come between us. If you want to avoid her, that's fine but don’t ditch us... you mean a lot to us.

It's Freezing here......

It's snowing heavily here & the weather is really nice!
I LOVE SNOW!

Are Iranians racist? (Please note that this post is not based on my personal opinion & hence means no offence by any means to anyone. Please take that

(Please note that this post is not based on my personal opinion & hence means no offence by any means to anyone. Please take that in mind that this just my observations.)
To put it bluntly: YES! Most Iranians tend to think that they are of a "different blood" than others. It doesn’t mean that they don’t respect other races, visa versa.... It's just that they are 'different'. & being different doesn’t necessarily mean 'being better'.
It doesn’t matter how long one may live with Iranians & it doesn’t matter how many real-blood-Iranian does one have as friends or in-laws, s/he would never be IRANI. S/he would be treated respectfully, would be loved & befriend with & would feel at home around Iranians yet there would be a boundary that s/he cannot cross. I don’t know how I can explain it... it's not that the person would be treated out of the ordinary... but s/he remains a guest (a beloved & appreciated guest on that).
My late great-grandmother was from Russia & she, still, after 4 generations is referred to as 'Russian Princess'. Even in my family- which happens to be very broad-minded about other races- the boundary shows when it comes to certain aspects like getting married. Recently a cousin of mine was about to get married to an American & surprisingly some of the elderly people opposed it! She got married anyway & we the younger generation supported her. However she is lucky that she is accepted into the family; when my great-aunt decided to marry a Swiss, she was banned from attending any kind of family union.
Nevertheless the case is really cool with Westerners (Europeans & Americans) when it is compared to Arabs or other nations. I have Arab friends & I also know people from other nations & I don’t mean to put down anyone here. However most Iranians tend to think really low about them & that is due to some historical conflicts between the two nations. I know that most of us get a bit prejudiced over the nationality issue especially when we are compared to or taken for Arabs. & as a very small part of Iranian society, I try to change that.... if I would ever have any children, I shall teach them to love everybody regardless of the nation, religion & race.
Tonight we discussed the question over our dinner & my father answered the question: definitely! He said that he might 'tolerate' & befriend with a foreigner but he can never think of him as Iranian. This kind of shocked me since my father is known for his hospitality toward strangers. Then he explained himself & I'm trying to translate his words as accurate as I can. He said that being friend & respecting another human is one thing & ignoring the differences is another thing. Accepting a foreigner as someone who is grown up on our culture is like forcing a black to change his skin color (either because one do not like the color or thinks it goes more with the person). When it comes to differences we must accept people they way they are not the way we want them to be. Then he asked me that if I would live in another country (e.g. America) would I be American or Iranian? & my answer was clearly the latter then he asked if I wanted to be known as 'American' in the situation which I definitely not. Thus he concluded that if I respect human beings the way I claim to, then I shall respect the diversity of cultures & nations & not to 'uncategorize' people. Honestly, I never thought about the matter like that before so I thought I would share my dad's word with you. He sometimes can get rather philosophical as you can see. But all in all that's why I love him so much.