7/11/2007

Gift of Sight

As we drove up a freeway in Tehran, there was a bend in the road. When we finished the bend, all of a sudden we could see the majestic mountains to the north of Tehran, beautiful, tall, and breathtaking. Since my older son was seven and my younger son was four, we lived in Tehran, taking that freeway, making that bend, and seeing those mountains everyday. And almost everyday I would say: “Look you guys, look at those beautiful mountains, and look at those clouds above the mountains! Aren’t they beautiful?” As he grew older and went into the more challenging years of his life, my older son stopped answering me, or he would say something sarcastic, like: “Mom, how many times do you need to show us those same mountains? We have seen them before. They haven’t changed since the last time you pointed them out to us!” But I persevered. I said it again. When he was sixteen, one spring morning after rain had stopped and the sky had cleared, we were driving up a different freeway, facing the same mountains from a different angle, when he exclaimed: “Mom, look at those beautiful mountains! Isn’t it just the most breathtaking thing you have ever seen?” That was the day I knew he could “see.” He now sees the mountains, the trees, the clouds, the grass, and everything that needs to be seen, including beautiful babies and children which he once viewed with a complete lack of interest and disdain.
My younger son, The Traveler, who has obviously been subjected to the same torture growing up as my son, has started “seeing” things for the past year. Here’s a photograph he took one day last March when he was home by himself. I found it in the camera, among some other “experimental” pictures he had taken, and it is now one of my most valuable things in life—proof that this one, too, can now “see.”

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nazy joon it was a very nice story. good for you and your sons who can "see". Take care!

Unknown said...

Dear Nazy,
we, not only have common name but also common feelings and memories. you took me to my sweet memories.I'm so happy for you and your sons who can "see" the beauties and "think" about them the same way you did!

Anonymous said...

دیدن هنر بزرگی ست که گاهی کورها بیشتر از ما بیناها دارای آنند. درست دیدن و خوب دیدن هنر متعالی ست، باید آن را ستود و تقدیسش کرد! آدمهایی که چشم های زیبا بین دارند، کجی ها و نورهای بد و رفلکس های نور را هم با لنزهای خودشان درست می کنند
عکس زیبایی بود

Anonymous said...

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. - Confucius

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing. - Camille Pissarro

May your son always see beauty in everything.

Anonymous said...

Nimeh Shab, Salam. Thank you for coming. Your beautiful Arman is already showing signs of "seeing," with that wonderful sense of humour almost too old for his small body and short life! Enjoy the process of life, as he learns and grows and sees.

Anonymous said...

Dear Behnaz:

Thank you so much for visiting and for leaving a comment. Memories are the food and tools we take on our journey of life. When we fall on sadder times, if we have taken the trouble to build those memories, we can pull them out, cheer ourselves up, and renew our will to carry on, maybe touching others, too, if we are lucky. Seeing will help us collect and safekeep those memories.

Come again my friend. I'm not very savvy with my blogging, so I can't figure out whether you have a blog. If you do, leave me the URL next time and I'll come and visit. Be happy.

Anonymous said...

Alef Jan, what an honor to have you visiting!

My older son is much more verbal than my younger son. He expresses himself with words, and that is so practical! My younger son says less and in my quest to get to know the person that he is, continually changing and evolving at this age, I have to look at the signs he leaves me in his body language, his habits, and other things. When I was downloading the pictures from the camera, I saw new ways in which he is now expressing himself. Some of the pictures were so funny: banana peels on top of a can of Coke, trying to convey an image (above and beyond the slobbery of teenage boys!), or a pile of seemingly haphazard items which obviously seemed interesting enough for him to photograph! The best we can do is to go along and try to "see." Be happy Alef and come back!

Anonymous said...

Salam Serendip Jan! Wise words further humbling my already humble thoughts!

Walking down a crooked backstreet in our beloved Rasht, I once stopped to look at the green moss (that grows on all surfaces in that rainy and humid city) growing on the walls of an old house. To my delight, I noticed that in the middle of a small clump of moss, there was a single yellow flower, no bigger than a thumbtack, complete with petals and a stem, growing, and looking completely proud and content! To this day I feel proud for having spotted it and for having enjoyed it in the few moments that were pure blessing. Beauty was in the cracks of the wall of that old house in Rasht that day, and I saw it! It was a flower left for me to see. Be good sensitive Serendip.

Anonymous said...

نازی جان.مامان من هم همیشه به من از زیبایی های طبیعت میگفت و به خصوص کوه های تهران.هنوز هم هر بار میرم خونشون روی کوه ها چیز های جدیدی را به من نشون میده که تازه کشفشون کرده.مثلا درختای جدیدی که کاشته شده و یه سبری زیبایی به آن قسمت کوه داده .و من خوشحالم که مادرم به من نگاه زیبا به طبیعت را یاد داده و مطمئنا پسراتون هم به شما افتخار می کنن

Anonymous said...

Hi Mana! Yes, as you have observed through your mother, I think we all initially learned from someone else how to look and see, and then we could do it on our own! Both my parents were also expert "seers!" Be good Mana.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

such nice story, I see many people here are agree with me on this. beeing a blogger is a wonderful thing, it gives you a chance to meet and know intelgent and wondeful people. In other hand there are some ignorent and mentaly challanged people exist between the audience. they are useless, they are stupid and they are a source a shame for the society. This not very dear anonymous is just an exmaple of them. I think you should keep ignore this manner, and let him/her/them to express their Sadism. In same time I feel sorry for this anonymous for make such fool of himself here. be good Nazy.

Anonymous said...

دوست عزیز، واژه ی
see
با دیدن در فارسی هم ریشه ی کهن است. آیا قبول داری که دیدن نوعی سخن گفتن و سخن گفتن نوعی دیدن است؟
http://dialogos.blogfa.com/post-56.aspx

Anonymous said...

عذر می خواهم این عبارت درست است:
دوست عزیز، واژه ی
see
با "سخن" در فارسی هم ریشه ی کهن است. آیا قبول داری که دیدن نوعی سخن گفتن و سخن گفتن نوعی دیدن است؟
http://dialogos.blogfa.com/post-56.aspx

Nazy said...

Mehran Jan. Thanks so much for coming and for your kind comment. I am so fortunate to have found this medium for finding new friends. I learn so much from the people who come to see me, and I am grateful for tht opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Alef Shin Jan:

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I would just like to suggest that we add or interpret “writing” as a way of “talking,” too. In fact, in using words and communicating in written form, aren’t you and I actually “seeing” each other right now? We might see each other as a very simple sketch in the beginning, just a few lines, outlining a form. The really interesting thing about this dialogue is that as we each say our piece and listen to the other’s reply, a sharper picture develops of the other person, details are added and the sketch we have started gains more detail, sharper focus, and more depth.

In my personal experience, relationships which lack “seeing” are the same ones that don’t have effective dialogue, leading them to failure. Couples who don’t talk are often strangers to one another, blind to the needs and offerings of the other.

Alef Shin Jan, thank you for letting me know where to find you. As I had suspected, you are a very interesting individual on many levels, a scholar and a philosopher. I am so honored for the privilege of your engagement in dialogue with me and my audience. I will come and visit you in your interesting home. I may not be able to contribute much to the deep dialogues going on there, but I will come and learn. Thanks again for coming and for showing more of yourself to me.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mam,
I don't intend to be rude. Are you living in Persia, or Bay area of SF.
Most probably you pendulate - every fortnights - between Tehran & SF.

May almighty eternaly bless you.
Greeting from Rome

Nazy said...

Dear Dr. Afnan:

I know it may seem confusing to you! I lived in Tehran for a few years until 2006 when I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I now live with my children. Thanks for coming to visit.