Iran, Iran's So Far Away...

So I realize I talk about the Fleming Museum in most of my posts but that just goes to show that anyone who has never been, is missin' out.  In addition to exhibiting awesome art, providing a quiet place to study and attracting an array of pretentious dillholes, the museum also hosts monthly "Noon-Time Cafe Progams."  This past week's program was a talk given by Senior Reporter from Vermont Public Radio, Steve Zind and was called Iran: A Personal Journey.  What I thought would be an epic tale about his exciting life of travel turned out to be more of an Iranian history lesson.  At first, I was kind of bummed; but as I listened to the ancient country's history, I found it not only incredibly interesting, but incredibly compelling and relevant to our lives today.

As people of a country that once boasted the Persian Empire, the Iranians see themselves as a society that was (at one point) the greatest on Earth.  While their ancient history shows an empire that withstood conquest after conquest, their more recent track record is dominated by the foreign presences of Russian, the United Kingdom and of course, the good old US of A.  In the past hundred years, the country has undergone several transformations under a variety of both liberal and conservative leaders.  More recently, The Iranian revolution established an Islamic government that began preaching traditional values and orthodox rituals.  For instance, the veil was required to be worn by all women under the Islamic government.

While so many westerners, including myself, are blinded by what we consider major steps backward from human equality, what many of us fail to see is the progress that women in countries such as Iran have made toward gender equality.  As Steve switched gears from his historical rant to his personal experiences, he explained that while many laws exist that outwardly strip women of certain rights, the women, far from forfeiting, have found creative and intelligent ways around them.  For example, according to Islamic Iranian law, a woman's testimony in a divorce is worth only one-third of her husband's.  In other words, in cases of divorce, whatever the husband says counts for three times as much as whatever his wife says in court.  But to avoid such an injustice, more progressive women make their husbands sign a contract that states that they are allowed to travel (because technically women are only allowed to travel with the permission of their fathers or husbands), that their property and money are in fact their property and money and other things that ensure their equality.

This talk grew more interesting with every second that passed; my favorite part was when Steve explained that in Iran, poets are the equivalent to our Pop stars.  My mind was blown.  Everywhere.  How could we ever consider ourselves more progressive than a nation that idolizes the poetic voice?  I was stunned.  As Steve continued to quote a variety of Iranian poets, I couldn't help but let my mind wander a bit.  How many current American poets could I name off the top of my head?  (Quite a few, in my defense... though that's not the point).   And how many Pop "artists" could I name?  Too many.  Way, way too many.  It really made me think even more about how who we choose as a role model is a direct reflection of what we value most.  While it is still obvious that Iran has a long way to go in certain respects, what we need to consider is how far they've come.  When you begin thinking about it in those terms, Iran doesn't seem so different from America.  We consider ourselves such a modern country and yet racism and prejudice are just as rampant as ever.  While I still struggle with the idea of the veil and many other of the more extreme concepts, I realized that perhaps Iran is not as far from home as I always thought it was.