I was thinking to myself what would happen if Obama died? How many people in the United states are anticipating his death? A majority? A minority? A power hungry few? Really who? And then I thought about Iran. How many people in Iran are anticipating the death of the Iranian Leader? A majority? A minority? A power hungry few? I mean really how many? Then the rumor was out that the Supreme leader of Iran is in a coma! I mean everybody was calling everybody to double check the news. People would call me thinking, she is a journalist she would know there was this thing in their voice as if they were begging me to confirm the news “hey, have you heard that Khameniee is in a coma? Is he going to die? It will be better for the country if he dies ha?” I wish had the answer to that. What is so unfortunate about this situation is that, a bunch of people who everybody seems to hate are running the country and it seems like that nobody can do anything about it. Ever since I was little and I was born a year after the revolution, ever since I can remember, people in Iran are saying “Inshallah (God willing) this will be the last year they will run this country, they will all go to hell this year Inshallah”. Ever since I bloody remember people have been waiting for Khameneiee to die, when I went to school we wished for him to die so that school would be out, in university we wished for him to die so that Khatami could go on with his reform, before all of this our parents wished for him to die so that they could see the glory days of Iran once again, I mean based on any standards that is just a hell of a lot of dying wishes for one person! The thing is that a year after the revolution I guess most people realized that the whole thing was just wrong, and now thirty years later a generation who was born after the revolution and know nothing but it is anticipating the fall of the system, the death of the leader and a brighter tomorrow. It is this very new generation which will bring the change because it is this generation who has lived under this system and has experienced its brutality and has no other experience. The generation which saw the Shah’s era say at least at that time we had social freedom you poor guys haven’t even had that! And that is true. Now in my opinion if a person like Obama dies people around the world would mourn his death because he stands for something which is regarded as a good value, he stands for peace, equality and freedom ( I know that US doesn’t always stick to what it preaches, but at least this guy is trying to some extent). When he was elected as US president the whole world celebrated his victory and I think when a person like Khameneiee dies the same thing will happen; many around the world will celebrate it because he is the symbol of a brutal religious state which has no respect for human rights, a state which will sacrifice its own people just to survive.
I Think people anticipate his death because his death will be the death of all that he stands for and we all know what those are.
I’ve thought about this same topic many times and anticipated this death with a sort of enthusiasm that makes me sad…. Sad in the sense that a person becomes the symbol of so much of the frustration experienced throughout an entire lifetime and the outlook to the future becomes so bleak and hopeless that you are left with one wish – even if you know it won’t really change anything… a wish that seems far from humane but exists all the same… to wish that someone were dead. It is sad to think that one person’s death would bring a feeling of relief to so many – a psychological kind of lightness. The lightness that comes from living life the way you please çause you only get to live once.
This time though, as I thought about the death of a leader who has symbolized so much of my anguish, I failed to to find that familiar feeling of happiness accompanied by guilt. Why? Because not long ago, I thought I could make a difference… I voted for change. For once I dared to hope…. One death will no longer quench my anger. This is the sad truth.