OUR LIVES ARE NOTHING BUT STORIES, MAKE THEM REAL, AT LEAST...

Jack, a handsome man, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 pm. He sat down next to this blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV as the 10:00 news came on. The news crew was covering a story of a man on a ledge of a large building preparing to jump.

The blonde looked at Jack and said, "Do you think he'll jump?"

Jack says, "You know what, I bet he will." The blonde replied, "Well, I bet he won't." Jack placed $30 on the bar and said, "You're on!"

Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy did a swan dive off of the building, falling to his death. The blonde was very upset and handed her $30 to Jack, saying, "Fair's fair... Here's your money."

Jack replied, "I can't take your money, I saw this earlier on the 5 o'clock news and knew he would jump."

The blonde replies, "I did too; but I didn't think he'd do it again."

Jack took the money.

The moral of the story... I guess you get it, right? You can't just eat what they feed you. There are simply way too many conspiracy theorists out there, TV and internet news channels included.

Here are some "real facts" about what you see happening in Iran these days. During the so-called White Revolution period between 1963 and 1978, University students went from 1.5 million to 10+ million, schools country-wide quadrupled and funds for education increased 15-fold. Women were given the right to vote, the right to equally compete for employment in the public service and legal sectors, the hijab was banned, mini skirts were seen everywhere and despite the religious objections of the mullahs, the minimum age of marriage was increased from 9 (although 13 was publicly admitted, in reality, it was 9) to 15 years old. The revenues from Iranian Oil sales increased 40 fold and as a result of all of the above, the disposable income of Iranians skyrocketed. I know, I speak from personal experience, not hearsay and fake news.

After 1979, the so-called Islamic Revolution executed over two million people (it could be twice that or even more for all we know), the war against Iraq took away another 1.5 million lives, and the total number of Iranians who fled their country seeking a normal life elsewhere, was - hold on to your seat - 43 million out of a total population of 80 million !!!! Can you imagine? As for women, they were thrown back into the darkest religious dungeons, equivalent only to the unbelievable witch hunts and the Christian Inquisition in our part of the world. But Persian women are proud... They have dignity and resilience which have been forged for thousands of years. We Greeks should know them better, as our interactions throughout history have been both many and significant. Remember, it is the worth of an adversary that elevates the accomplishment of the victor and Persia was not an empire for no reason.

Let me leave here on the table for you something very real, the words of a twenty-year-old Persian girl who was recently seen holding her hijab in one hand and her beautiful long hair in the other, screaming at the Security Forces who were shooting live ammo at the crowd (over 95 dead and 1000+ wounded to date, but again, the numbers may very well be much greater): "Iranian women are not demonstrating to live. They are willing to die so the next generation of our women may live free".

I don't know her name, but in my heart, I will remember her always as "Hope".

(EK)