After so many rainy weekends, we finally had a beautiful weather this past weekend. I decided to go to the beach. AS soon as l got to the parking lot, I saw all these cars and busses there. There was a live band for senior Citizens.
They were all sitting under the trees in the park and waiting for the band to start. The music was great, But what was even more nice was watching all those Old People dance. They were dancing and having fun. Well I know that's not something new in USA, and whoever that will read this would think, so what. But It all took me back to my country.....
..... They teach you how to love, they are protective of you, They are kind, they respect elders , But at the same time, You will see as they get older, they get religious, they worry, they get depressed, they sit in the house for days, they think about the fact that they are going to die..... They think since they are old they shouldn't pay attention to the white hair, to the make up, to the little things in life that used to make them happy, because if they do what the neighbor would say, what the family would think.....
Just looking at those happy Old people, made me wonder why?
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
posted by Persianeyes at 5:47 PM
|
|
1 Comments:
« back home
Post a Comment
You should remember in society such as Iran (Middleast in general) with long history,
a lot of unwritten rules have been created accompanied by huge amount of expectation from its citizens. The sources of these rules and expectations are religion, custom, political climate, and the history of wars in that area. You can examine each rules and actually trace it to one of these elements. For example, one of unwritten rules is showing affections in public. Showing affection in general can be interrupted as sexual behavior by the religious establishment. Also dancing is considered a sign of being out of control and that is against their interpretation of Islam. At the same time, the society/establishment expect all its citizen to master these rules by the age of puberty. Therefore by the time my hair get completely white, I should walk, talk, eat, and behave certain way in accordance with my age (age = knowledge of rules and custom). This allows society to function in a certain speed(slow) with some kind of normality. Any deviation/slip from these rules or questioning them will cause a great deal of resistance. This also create a rigid society that its citizens are not allowed (directly or indirectly) think and imagine indepenedly. It is not that they worry about death, its because whatever they try to do (sing, dance, going to movie, swimming,...) is against the RULES. So they really want to do it but they are afraid to break the RULES even if there is nobody there to see them. Hope next generation understand and break the chains. That is why I am all for Belly Dancing