Harvest of Love

Date Harvest, Boushehr Province, Iran. Photo from IRNA by Hadi Fakhr Ahmad, August 10, 2008.

They look so cool and delicious in the photograph. You can't feel the heat that has been enveloping and nurturing them into ripeness for months. You can't feel the humidity and temperatures that surround and beat down on the farmers bringing these beauties to the homes of millions of Iranians. Soon it will be Ramadan and all the boxes of gorgeous dates, rotab, will be prepared to find their ways into the Eftar spreads of millions. Think about it. How is it possible to be hot and look cool? How can something be so hard to grow and maintain and harvest, and bring so much sweetness and nutrition to so many? Wouldn't it be really wonderful if all of us lived like those date trees, withstanding extreme conditions while all the time preparing a feast for everyone, benefiting others by our fruits? Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone had such a sense of undeterred purpose in life? Today I think I would like to be a tree that blossoms and bears the sweetest fruit in the world. What would it take to be such a tree? Belief, resilience, and love. That's how I would like to live my life. Like a tree that bears the sweet fruit of love.

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To Us, Here and Now

Mina Kari workshop in Isfahan, May 28, 2008. More photos here.

Soon all those plates will be painted, looking the same, while in fact each of them is its own unique creation as is the case with all art. But right now, one of them is painted and the other ones are plain. Like most people, depending on the moment and environment and circumstances, I have come to know how it feels to be both, and neither one is better than the other. Life has its own rewards and challenges whether we are colorful or plain. Trying too hard to be colorful or plain keeps us from enjoying the moment and the opportunity of being that which we are. We are who and what we are, each of us a piece of art, which might be transformed through life's brush strokes, glaze, or heat. Later, we might get better with age, someday becoming a coveted "antique" piece. Then again, we may not. What is important and urgent to do, is to enjoy life just as and what and how and who and where we are in it now. This moment counts and nothing else. Here's to us, here and now.

Laugh Like There Is No Tomorrow

Parviz Sayyad and Mary Apic perform a special version of The Swan Lake Ballet in the 1970's Kaaf Show. Watch this. This is one of the funniest things that ever happened on Iranian television, well, in my opinion. Simply priceless!

There is no mystery in the aging process. There is no fountain of youth drinking from which will keep us young. We grow old and our bodies fight and lose to gravity. Our skins develop wrinkles and sags, bulges and stretch marks. Yikes! This is no fun at all! We develop wrinkles around our eyes and if we have frowned too much, the wrinkles on our foreheads make us look permanently puzzled or angry. I am aging and developing wrinkles just like everybody else.

I am happy about the way my face has grown old and somewhat wrinkled, though, because my most profound wrinkles happen to be two lines around my mouth, what Americans charitably call "laugh lines." I am proud of my laugh lines, because I have earned them laughing throughout my lifetime! Laughing at the most obscure and ordinary things, laughing at things which only appear humorous to me, and most importantly and on a regular basis, laughing at myself! Some days I laugh so hard at myself, my sides hurt. I think the best approach to life is not to take ourselves too seriously. That means that we must laugh, boisterous, loud, and hearty laughs. At the end of the day, we all succumb to age and gravity. It is so much better to succumb enjoying ourselves and brightening our space with the sound and feeling of laughter. My approach to life on most days is: laugh like there is no tomorrow. My advice to you is: Do try this at home! And if you feel up to it, do leave me a joke or a funny memory in this post. I thank you in advance.