 Getting priorities straight
Helping Iranians is helping the world
By Pouya Alimagham
November 7, 2003
The Iranian
People come and tell me that nationalism
is a disease which led two world wars and that we should not
be
concerned with countries or a people, but with the
world as a whole and all people. Although I agree with them, I have
a different approach.
I look at it this way: the world is a big
place, we are from a part of called Iran and we are
Iranians. By helping our homeland and our people
wherever they may be, we are making our contribution
to the world.
If all the people of this world help
build their respective homelands, the world as a whole
would benefit. If the Cubans, Chinese or South Africans
concentrate on improving
their own country, we will also be doing our part by helping
out Iranians and Iran. This would all make sense given that improving
one's homeland isn't at the expense of others.
The world is a big place. I sometimes feel many
Iranians say something like "We need to pay attention
to the world, not just Iran." But then it's all talk,
because they know that the world is a huge place and
that they wouldn't be able to do much, so they don't
do anything at all. It's a form of copping out, of
relinquishing yourself of your responsibilities by
focusing on something too big, and then because
it's too big, doing nothing.
True, our responsibility is to the world. But
our part of the world is Iran and our people of this
world are
Iranians; by helping them, we are helping a
segment of the world. Saying: "forget Iran, we should help
the world," and then doing nothing, is counterproductive.
This doesn't mean we should never
help non-Iranians. My point is that we need to get our
priorities straight Author
Pouya Alimagham is the president of the Iranian
Student Alliance in America (ISAA)
and a senior at UC Berkeley studying Middle East studies
and political science.
* Send
this page to your friends
|
