Iran was always a great country in my childhood eyes. I left Iran at the age of 11. It was not until I went back to Iran at 15 that I saw with my own eyes what Iran didn’t have. There was no democracy. Walking on the streets of Tehran brought back so many memories, but I couldn’t imagine myself walking those streets for the rest of my life. It was nothing compared to walking outside on a street in Virginia or anywhere else in the U.S. I felt guilty as I watched people because I knew I was free and they were not.
Another election has arrived for Iran and I am thinking…are they really going to get what they deserve? Are they really going to get their freedom, their democracy? What can I do for them? The only thing I can do, as I am sitting here, on my comfortable bed, reading a magazine on Hollywood gossip, while Iranian women are protesting for equal rights, is to vote.
As an Iranian I feel obliged to vote because I am Iranian too. I could have been living there, among them, seeing what they see, going through their problems. But now that I am here, it is my duty to vote so that hopefully they too could have what anyone, in any country or in any nation embraces…freedom.
From the weblog of a 16 years old Iranian Girl: Blue Bird Escape