Haleh

NYC

Iran 1979

I was 13 in 1979, we left in 1984. It all started as a hopeful, democracy minded revolt which quickly turned into horror, many deaths, and chaos. Both my parents lost their jobs, they were both government employees who refused to work for the new Islamic regime. Money got very tight overnight. Everything they had was sold to live. My school became segregated, I missed my male school friends, I had a gun to my head to cover my hair, so I did. The educated left, my mother included, joined in, in the beginning, took to the streets, and soon withdrew.

The obvious mistake now in hind sight, was jumping into getting rid of the Shah before having any idea what we were going to get instead. And trusting blindly that everyone in it has the best interest of the people in mind, not their own power greed and personal ideologies. One must not trust any faction who from the beginning is more concerned with gaining power, than what's good for the country. I realize my mistrust of the Islamist faction in Egypt comes from my own experience, yet I cannot deny what I saw. The lesson I think, is go with a leader who has an education beyond theology, is literate, and interested in serving, not ruling. If you take the illiterate, hill billy type of any country, and let them take over, life will get worse for everyone.