Jean Wilkey

The Dreams of a Planet Earth Citizen

by SHADI TAJEDDINI

Dear Reader,

I don’t know who you are and I don’t know where you live. I don’t know about your hopes and your dreams, but I can tell you about mine. I am almost twenty-one, and I live in Iran. I am blessed with so many things I can’t even begin to count them. I have a loving and supportive family; I have friends I can trust no matter what. I have traveled to foreign countries and seen many beautiful sights. I am studying a major I love. I am always thankful for my blessings, but I’m not entirely content with my life. I have a dream, a dream of a better future, not only for myself but also for my country.

I dream about a time when all the girls and women in my country will have the right to choose what they want to wear. What I choose to wear tells the world a lot about me, but when I leave the house, I must hide the things I want to say beneath a chador and a hijab — a gown and scarf. Sometimes, on a summer night, all I want to do is go on a late-night drive, to roll down all the windows, and feel the warm breeze caress my skin and blow through my hair. But all the breeze can do is kiss my cheeks: I have to cover my hair in order to avoid going to jail.

I dream about a time when children will be at school instead of working on the streets. Each time I wait at a red light, children come to the window and beg me to buy a flower or some chewing gum from them. When they start to clean the windshield, in hopes of getting money for the job, it breaks my heart. I wonder why a child who doesn’t look more than seven years old should have to work instead of getting an education or playing with his friends. And when I see teenagers going through garbage cans in the hope of finding something to sell, I think of the people who make billions of tomans in illegal ways, then spend the money on luxury items and go to bed without a worry in the world. They steal the money that should go towards free education for everyone and aiding homeless people, and they don’t feel even a little bit of remorse.

I dream of a time when people realize that before being a member of a country or a city, race, gender, or social class, they are citizens of Planet Earth. No matter how hard people may try to isolate themselves and look the other way, they are bound to feel the impact if others are not treated with basic human decency. A well-known poem by Ferdowsi comes to my mind when I think about the condition of my country. He writes:

Human beings are members of a whole,
in creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
other members uneasy will remain.
If you’ve no sympathy for human pain,
the name of human you cannot retain.

How true this is! It is why when I dream, I dream not only of a bright future for my own country, but of one for the whole earth. My dreams are the dreams of a citizen of Planet Earth.