The "Flag" or Not the "Flag": Our Existential Question

July 9th - San Jose Santa Row - Rally - 7-9 PM - No flags PLEASE

As my daughter and I approached Santana Row, several large (and I mean LARGE!) flags with "Shir or Khorshid" (ShoKh) were flying proud above the crowd. There were about a hundred or so people gathered last night at Santa Row in San Jose in support of the people of Iran.

As we weaved through the crowd I found my friend, Amir, in the back standing quite apart from the rest of the crowd.

"Hi Amir. Why are you standing so far in the back?" I asked
"Because I don't want to stand under the flags," He snickered.
"Why?" I asked and understood immediately! "Oh, it is the ShoKh flag. Are they “saltanat talab”?
"I don’t know!" He was clearly mad. “They said not to bring flags. How dare they bring these flags?"

As I pondered the question, I looked around. There were 4 or 5 huge SOKh flags in the front line and also people who were wearing the ShoKh flag like a large shawl on their shoulders. There were also several small flags that said “Free Iran” or “Democracy for Iran.”

“But Amir,” I finally responded. “Freedom of speech requires that people bring and say what they want. We must learn to tolerate what other people want even if it’s not what we agree with or want.”

“Those large flags make it look like they represent the entire group here and they DON’T! Why do they have to shove their flag down our throats?”

I saw his point. He was right; the ShoKh flags were there to make a definite statement. No other flag there made such a statement. The other flags were small and personal. "Why do they have to be so big," I thought. I would not have minded if they were small and personal like the other ones. But they were not.

The song “Burn baby Burn” kept repeating over and over in my head. I wished I could burn all the stupid flags. I wanted to scream “There are people dying! What statement are you trying to make with these big ShoKh flags? That you are a nationalist? That you believe in Monarchy? That this was the official flag of Iran for thousands of years? Who CARES?!!!” Why should what is or is not on the flag matter so much to us?

Thirty years later, as our brave people in Iran hit the streets asking for their freedom, we, the expatriates, ponder our most important existential question: “The Flag or NOT the Flag?” People are being brutally beaten and killed and yet we, like my 4-year old, stomp our feet in defiance and say “Our flag is bigger and better than yours!”

I am saddened that in thirty years we have not emotionally or politically matured, that we fight for petty things when there are lives at stake, that we don’t practice democracy and yet we demand it, that we have not learned to honor and respect each other as we demand that others honor and respect us. How sad for us!