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Steve Jobs passed away today after a lifetime of innovations and successes that only followed after he failed enough times!
“There is a memo sent out by Tim Cook to Apple employees stating that there will be an internal celebration to honor Steve’s life soon. His words can be found after the break.”
We must all learn to celebrate the life of those who have left us, everyone and anyone; but especially those who left a mark! Whoever invented mourning when people die?!! Why do we do this? Maybe the event of Ashura is a good example to examine here, if someone’s a true hero, why not celebrate his life with grace, joy, and happiness? What do we gain by mourning and displaying such grave pain, most of the time without truly feeling it from the heart?
This was my last show, and I am happy to leave you all with this great quote from a prominent Iranian artist, namely Mohammad Reza Shajarian:
Be present and live life by the moment.
Yours truly,
Iman Oskoorouchi
Iranian Live Talk Show airs on RadioJavan.com every other Wed @ 7PM, every other Fri at 9AM on Radio Bamdad Sacramento, and is available for podcast on Iranican.com.
4 comments
RIP Steve!
This is an interesting topic. While I would agree with Iman that our culture’s view on a wide variety of religious matters is holding us back I think the source of our problem is that we don’t think rationally. In our history the trend has been that we have had a despotic regime and people say “ANYONE would be better than them” then they change the regime and end up with something far worse! We let ourselves be pushed around and taken advantage of.
I don’t think culturally we have many short comings especially when I compare it to the kind of garbage (Iman I know you like this analogy!) I have seen in American society. Our culture is cruel, but at least it’s honest in many respects. Yes, we have liars, cheaters corruption, but as shahed said it is nowhere near the level of deceit that exists here. In Iran, at least people are aware of the corruption, here they steal from you, buy out judges, TV stations and elections (perfectly legally) and people don’t even know it.
Don’t you think that it’s interesting how despite all these problems we have Iranian people are on average happier and less depressed than Americans? I think there is less of a sense of loneliness in Iranian society, which is good.
Iman brought up an interesting point of “who invented mourning when people die?” I have an answer for that! The family members of those who die! It sounds really nice to say that hey we should celebrate when someone dies but I don’t think it is realistic. Especially since I myself have had experience with the death of a close family member and I can tell you Iranian view of mourning was a more honest testament to how I really and truly felt rather than the artificial American “put on a happy face” and go to a funeral. At least in our society people are allowed to express themselves in this manner.
Also (and this might tie into last topic on education). I believe one of the most influential factors in education is family. Someone in one of the previous shows said that they were surprised how when they came to US their history teacher gave them a list of questions that was gonna be on the test and people still failed. The reason for that is because you can’t expect someone to study and learn anything if they are thinking about other problems that are going on in their families and in their personal lives. Your education has nothing to do with where you go to school, it has to do with how hard you work and how much emotional encouragement you have.
I chuckled a bit when it was said that Iranian parents are a bit more controlling in their kids lives. LOL. No offense, vali kheyli harfe teenageri bood! After a certain age (I’d say 18 or once the kid moves out and goes to college) there is very little if anything the parent can do to actually control him/her. I mean after a certain age people are free to go out and do whatever they want… so basically whatever the parent says goes in one ear and out the other. But it is good that they are at least showing they still care about their kids even if they are adults. I think at some age you appreciate your parents input no matter what they say. I read in a newspaper or magazine in Iran a while back at 5 you think “maman/baba hamechiz midoonan!” Then at 16 you think “maman/baba hichi halishoon neest” then at 25 you think “maman/baba ye chizaee midoonan” then at 35 “bayad az maman/baba beporsam bebinam oona chi fekr mikonan” then at 70 “kash mishod ba maman/baba rajebe in maseleh sohbat kard..”
Iranians should never forget to appreciate the strong points of their culture, no matter what!
most teenagers over the age of 18 are still controlled by their parents, until they get married that is, but that happens in Iran. I think if you control in the way that you’ll lead them in the right path, like good education and so on. But as you said, in Iran there’s a lot of corruption & unsecurity within the environment, so I think that they have the rights to control their kids, specially if they are female because they are more vulnerable.
And regarding to the mourning issue, like in the UK, the funeral starts after 7 days (usually) but like the people only mourn on that very day and after they go to a bar or pub to have a drink and celebrate that persons death. In Iran it’s the opposite, they have several events for that persons death within that 40days that they’re suppose to be in mourning, and that has come from the islamic culture, so for more than 1400 years the people have been mourning and still are on events such as a persons death, ashoura tasua, and then their’s the muharram, and so on… and it’s really sad because you like see ordinary people practice this. So like I think even if Iran is free, they will always have islam practices within them, it’s in their blood, no one can really change anything.
mahtab, I kind of disagree with you on most teenagers over the age of 18 in Iran being controlled by there parents, I mean yes nazari midan pedar madar ha hamishe… but if someone wants to do something, they’re gonna go and do it there is very very little a parent can do to stop them short of locking them in a room and tying them to a chair. Sometimes kids go off and do something and hide it from their parents and think their parents dont know, but the parents know they’re just turning a blind eye.
Also lets not forget Iranian parents send their kids halfway accross the world to the US to get a good education without knowing what they are doing here or when they will ever see them again. Is this really “controlling?”
I totally agree with you on them having a right to control their kids especially if they are female. So many problems I see in US right now could be solved if parents watched over their kids more, but sadly they can’t because in the average family here mom and dad are both at work while the kid is being raised by someone else or at home alone.
But regarding the mourning issue, the funeral helps the family more with the grieving process. It’s more for the family than it is for the person who has died, and this several events for that persons death within 40 days, helps the family not to be alone during that time period. But people’s overall way of thinking about religion needs reforming, and I think one way to do that is through education and teaching people about different religions and different ways to interpret texts. Islam is not a backwards religion, people have made it this way.