Iranican

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If you had one year to live


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It is easy to jump into that usual routine: wake up, shower, go to work (or class), come home, eat dinner, go to bed… repeat.  So often, we forget that we are living and we just let our lives pass us by.  I remember when I was 16 years old and I thought 24 was SO old… now I’m suddenly 24 and I am already worried that one day I’m going to wake up at age 50 and not even realize where the last 26 years of my life went by.  That is a terrifying thought!

Here is what I have decided:  Live everyday like it’s your last.  Realistically, you won’t be able to cross something off your bucket list everyday, but you can still take advantage of the opportunities around you.  Maybe your job is boring, but you can still make it fun: develop new projects within your job that will teach you a new skillset, go out of your way to meet new people and learn about them, and lastly, try to do something different everyday.  I don’t mean drastically different, but maybe take the scenic route home- yeah it might take a little longer, but who knows when you can do that again? Or, instead of making some excuse to go home and just laze around in your bed, go check out that new restaurant your friends have been talking about. Remember that childhood dream of someday becoming a writer (mine), how about start brainstorming right now?  Simply have fun and make your dreams a reality before it’s too late.

If I had one year to live, I would travel across the world to places I’ve never been, but most importantly, I would eat the best local cuisine you can imagine for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  From gourmet pizzas and pastas to khoreshte gheymeh and lubia polo.  I would let my inner “shekamoo” free and just enjoy the best cuisine from every country.

What would YOU do if you had one year to live?  It may be easier to answer the question this way, what would you NOT want to do? This week we are pleased to have Dr. Sadri Khalessi, by profession he teaches Math and Statistics at Stanford University and by passion he is well versed in Iranian and Islamic Literature, Philosophy, and Mysticism.

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29 comments

  1. Why wait! If u r told u have one year to live, most likely u will be too depressed and sick to do any of the above. No reason to be hedonistic but all is possible while you are alive and healthy! And u can tell the people u love, u love them now… U could die tomorrow, no?! But what I would do, if I had a year left, is to do all the things that I wouldn’t if I were fearing death!!!!! Go figure.. The irony!

    1. Lol I completely agree! You should definitely appreciate what you have while you are still able and around to appreciate it. What is something you’re afraid of doing now but you wouldnt be afraid of if you only had one year to live? Mine: Bunjee jumping FOR SURE. Though, I’m not sure I’d be able to get over that even if I knew I only had one year… maybe on the LAST day of that year…

    1. I would kill all the mullah people in my city….im living in qom…i hate all of them….@!@

  2. Hello lovely ppl,

    Avalandesh kamelan dorood bar shoma, idovomandesh if I had a year I would see the world and I would ensure I saved at least one life during my travels. I would ask that I be a guest on your show half way through the year so I could tell the world of my journey and I would buy a small plot of land close to Perspolis so I could be buried there in my Perspolis jersey.

    xoxo
    Sugarhigh

    PS Please keep Farzad as a regular.

      1. I would definitively go to Australia first. After seeing Oprah’s trip to Australia during her farewell season, all I can think of is about that great country. I hope to meet an Australian guy so I can marry him and move there!

  3. man ba Nasim ezdevaj mikardam va tori bash raftar miakrdam ke hamoon moghe ke mano mikoshan unam khod koshi kone

  4. I’ll give away my belongings and live it up w/ loved ones. BUT there are a few people that really really really deserve a piece of mind and I’ll be sure to leave them with some comments that will haunt them from beyond my grave. Unless I can come back and haunt them in person. :)) daghe delamo khali mikonam hahaha!

  5. I don’t like this topic. Ishalla hameh 100 sal zendeh bashan o bala door basheh. But since this is a program related to Iran and Iranian culture, yek khatereh share mikonam. A couple weeks ago, I was in Tehran and I boarded an Aseman airlines plane (I was not aware of this but I’ve been told it’s the most dangerous airline in Iran) to a different city. Once we were all seated in the plane, after about an hour the flight attendant announced that the plane couldn’t take off because of a maintenance problem and some engineers were investigating to see if they could fix it. That’s when the chaos started from the passengers: “Pas bara hamin havapeymaha hey soghoot mikonan charkhashoon baz nemishan, hala havapeyma vasate rah agar naghse fani peyda kard un mogheh chekar mikonim?” Another passenger: “hichi ye marasemi baramoon migiran o tamoom misheh mireh…” A third passenger: “Man bacheh daram! Mikham piadeh sham!” And so all this talk about death and what they were gonna do if the plane crashed continued a bit before they let all the passengers off and brought a new plane, this time with leather seats. A passenger commented: “Nakoneh hamoon havapeymast rookeshaye sandalihasho avaz kardan…” Another passenger: “Berim!” His wife: “Berim na, Beresim, Salem Beresim..” A little girl: “Maman, ayatol korsi bekhoonam havapeymamoon nayofte?” All the while I was thinking man too bad I don’t have my video camera with me to record this. Akharesh havapeyma keh mikhast bereh, hameh mosafera salavat ferestadan, the plane took off, landed, mosafera baz dobareh salavat ferestadan, piadeh shodano Nobody ended up under the ground or on the national news. Hala point e in dastan chie? Point ine keh hamemoon belakhareh dir ya zood gharareh berim un donya, hala cheh farghi mikone kay ya chejoori? va harf zadan ya fekr kardan dar moredesh hich tasiri too zendegi ya mordane ma nemizare. Faghat khodemoono alaki stress out mikonim va vaghtemoon tooye in donya injoori hadar mire.

    The way I look at it is we’re all going to die eventually unless somewhere down the road science and technology can prevent the human body from aging, deteriorating and getting sick. And the chances of this happening in our lifetime is pretty slim, so we’re all basically slowly dying with time. It doesn’t matter tomorrow, a year from now, 50 years from now, it’s going to happen sooner or later. so why waste time thinking about what we’re going to do if we die/what happens if we die? Enjoy your life, live the way you feel most comfortable living and don’t think about death. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. There is a season for everything.

    1. Pare Simorgh,

      What you’ve mentioned makes complete sense, and you’re right there is no point in thinking about death and when that’s going to happen. However, the discussion we’re trying to have a bit different. As you mentioned everyone will die sooner or later, and we have no idea how and when this will happen, but the question is are we “aware” of the fact that our life is finite? And what would that “awareness” change? It seems like most of us live life as if it is infinite.

      Many times you and I go through different aspects of our own lives and the inner feeling we have is as if this is a test life, and once it got real I will make sure to do thing a certain way, and go see certain people or places, etc. We don’t realize that there is only one run, this is it! We’re here to live, not to spectate!

      There is definitely a difference between a person who believes s/he will die in a short amount of time and one who doesn’t. The way they live their lives, the choices they make, the people they spend more time with, and the places they stay at or go visit! That is the heart of our discussion, the reasons behind this different way of thinking and living…

      Let me know what you think?

      1. Salam Iman jan,

        You mentiond some of us live life as if it is infinite. Don’t you think that there is some good and positivity in the fact that we aren’t aware that our life is finite? Imagine how chaotic society would be if everyone knew they had a certain amount of time left. Hameh hers mizadan keh beram in ghaza ro bekhoram, in keshvaro bebinam, vaghtamo ba in o un begzaroonam. Vaghti hers mizani az zendegi nemitooni lezat bebari. Aramesh nadari. Mardom ravani mishan agar befahman modate mahdoodi tooye in donya hastan. Alan dashtam commentaye facebook ro mikhoondam baziha migoftan agar midoonestan keh faghat ta 1 sal digeh zendeh hastan miraftan dozdi va kareh khalafe ghanoon mikardan! Khoda rahm koneh! I’m pretty sure kheyliha hastan injoor fekr mikonan keh khob man faghat ta yek rooz digeh zendeh hastam, beram az doshmanam ye enteghami begiram badesh harchi shod, shod digeh farghi nemikoneh faghat ta yek rooz digeh zendeh hastam.

        I don’t think your quality of life will necessarily increase if you know you will die in a short amount of time. Knowing can be a burden for you psychologically, and it can even cause you to make a lot of poor choices without thinking clearly, which can effect the lives of those around you negatively. Personally, I’m glad human beings don’t know how much time they have left in the world. I think it gives our society peace of mind.

        1. Again I agree with you, but there is still something worth discovering here. I am not implying that there is a problem with the fact that our departure date is unknown, but I believe a balance is necessary. Of course we need to build our lives, make money, and strive, but I feel like sometimes we get lost in this process! It’s as if we’re now living to work instead of working to live. So I believe being aware that your life is finite is helpful, no we don’t need to know when we die, that’s not helpful, but we used the 1 year example to show that when people are faced with it, many times they shift their mindset. Somehow they realize that there is more to life than the daily routine!

          So let’s look at it this way, we don’t need to think about death on a daily basis or even regular basis, but we need to realize that there is some sort of a limit, and every once in a while it is a good idea to recap our lives and see if we’ve been driving the right direction and are following our dreams and values…

  6. To the imposter Sugarhigh, I live Australia and it’s heaps better than what was on Oprah.
    P.S stop using my nickname!!!!

  7. Baleh Iman Jan in o dorost migi mardom khodeshoono alaki sare chiz haye bikhod narahat mikonan. Sometimes it’s competition they think man bayad az refigham shoghle behtari dashteh basham, pool bishtare dar biaram, mashine behtari dashte basham, mehmoonie behtari bedam… alaki hers mizanim ghadre un chizhaee darim o nemidoonim. Especially in Iran now mardom ghadre khoobihaye mamlekateshoono nemidoonan hamash badi ha ro mibinano na shokri mikonan.

    In regards to your next topic which was posted on facebook: real life is not a soap opera where in o un roo ham mirizan va bad az ye modat miran ba refighe in o un roo ham mirizan… akheh in soal ha chie? Jaye bahs nadareh keh, aberoo rizie! hich adame dorost hesabi keh aghl o sho’or dareh nemireh ex e friendesho date koneh. Yek kam manteghi fekr konid. Would you go through your friend’s trashcan and eat his left over Lasagna from last night that he threw away? Why or why not? There’s a reason your friend’s relationship is in the trashcan now! It’s like going through someone’s garbage for leftovers. There are plenty of other guys/girls to choose from that don’t come with any drama/baggage, Ghat-ee keh neest!

  8. in barnamatoono kheyli doost dashtam ,makhsoosan harfaye aghaye khalesi ro , bazam az in tip barnaame ha bezarid .

  9. I love Australia too. Aussie girls are good, but not as good as persian girls. I think the same for persian guys.Go for persians. MD from brizzie

  10. When I first looked at the topic of this show I was not that impressed to listen to the show… but once Iman mentioned about the guest of the show I decided to listen to the entire show.

    I did enjoy it!! and would like to thank you for picking such a topic and your guest that made it so meaningful with his profound words.

    keep up the good job!

    Mahmoud

  11. Bachehaye gole Iranican, Neshoon dadin mitonin ye barnameye jeddi bargozar konin, bedoone khandidane bija vasatesh… Man age yek sal vaght dashtam, yeki az karayi ke mikardam, edameye goosh dadan be in barname o makhsoosan in episode bood…mamnoon az pakhshe ahangaye Fariborz Lachini vasate sohbatha, mehmane besyar khoshsokhanetoon va o va o va…