From Tehran to the Land of the Free: "Struggles of an Iranian to Live Up to Her Potential"

By Mitra Thompson

From childhood, Mitra was a dreamer. Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, she believed that, with determination, she could overcome any obstacle in her life, and she was determined, indeed! Her only setback was that she was unable to do everything she wanted because she was among the minority in Iran: she was female and a member of the Bah

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors Press
• Release date: Mar 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643142852

Mitra Thompson

Mitra Thompson was born in Tehran, Iran. She migrated permanently to America to receive the higher education that was denied to her in Iran because of her religious beliefs. After her dear husband's passing at the end of 2011, and at her daughter's request, she was inspired to write her memoir. Mitra has a son, a daughter, and a stepdaughter, all of whom are married and have two children of their own. She currently resides in North Carolina.

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Copyright © 2020 by Mitra Thompson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Table of Contents

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Roger Hamrick, Alaine Tremel, Adam Rivera, Melissa Thompson, and Alex Cougarman in writing my memoir. Without their advice and encouragement this book would not have seen the light.

Preface

Building a successful and happy life here in America has been a joyful experience for me. I was told by many travelers that I could find gold on the streets of America. Later on, I realized that by gold they meant opportunities. I did not take anything for granted; took advantage of every opportunity crossing my path. Eventually, I became part of the American Dream. It took me a long time to get used to the way of living in America. I came from the Middle East, the land of Iran where women had no rights compare to men, where higher education was and still is illegal for members of the Baha’i Faith (one of the religious minorities in Iran). The people, the government, the social practices and the life styles of the East and the West were so different that I even surprised myself when I found that I could adapt and eventually live a happy life.

I would like to dedicate this book to my son and daughter and emphasize that with hard work and good intentions they will also make their dreams come true here in America.

Chapter One

Iwas born in Tehran, the capital of Iran, to a middle-class family. My parents were wholeheartedly devoted to each other and to their children. My mother married at age 15 to my father who was 25 years old. She was in love with my father and as I can recall he adored her. I always thought of them as the two love birds that could not live without each other.

Later on in life, I realized their way of raising us was very unique, despite the differences in their age. As a child, I appreciated the way they supported each other’s decisions in front of their children. They both showed us how important respect was towards one another. When my mother was sick, my father would instruct us to be quiet and bring our concerns to him rather than disturb my mother’s rest. So often, before my father was expected to get home from work, my mother would tell us to listen to him, to behave well, let him eat his lunch in peace before bombarding him with questions and also to learn from him because he was educated.

My mother’s education was limited. As part of our Iranian culture at that time, she went to school as far as six grade, so my father would work with us on our homework. While my parents assumed the traditional gender roles of a marriage, they were always respectful of each other’s role in the household and were completely supportive of each other.

As I was growing up I felt their affection and love even in the disciplining of my siblings and me. Oh, yes! There was always discipline in our home. Not like military discipline, but more like a program of reward and punishment. They would lecture us for hours as to how we were expected to behave when visiting our relatives or friends and then would observe our actions. Afterward, they would give us feedback with either a reward if they were pleased with our actions or a punishment if we were out of line. To them the discipline was a building block of good character and if we had good manners and behaviors in public, we would be more likely to become people with integrity. Later on, I came to the understanding that they were teaching us how to be aware and in control of our actions at all times.

Due to my limited understanding of life in general, as a child, I was rebellious about any instructions which I thought were unfair. An example of this was when my parents used to serve us food at dinner time. They filled our plates with food according to how much they thought we would each eat. I was very small compared to my two older sisters and I started to realize that the portion of the food they served me was much less than the portions my sisters received. I used to argue with my parents about it and they would kindly explain to me that I had never finished my food when they served me the smaller size anyway. Regardless of their reasonable justification, I refused to eat until they gave me the same portion as my older siblings. To keep the peace at dinnertime, they went along with my demand, but they would ultimately finish eating my food if I could not eat it all.

Another example was when my mother would ask me to do a task. If I was in the middle of playing a game with my sisters, I would refuse to do it until the game was done. I thought the punishment for such action was not necessary and would run a distance of five miles to my grandmother’s home, by myself, for protection. My grandmother would take me in and treat me like a queen. My parents would call her and ask about me and she would tell them that the only way she would allow them to take me back home was to apologize. They totally respected my grandmother’s wish and apologized. In the meantime, my mother would explain to me why my action was not suitable and I had to apologize to her. That’s how I learned about love and respect at very young age.

My parents practiced the Baha’i Faith which is yet to be recognized by the government of Iran. Naturally my siblings and I were introduced to the Faith from childhood. As a child, I had the pleasure of going to the Baha’i gatherings. There I was taught how to build a good character by practicing the God-given virtues in my daily life.

The Iranian constitution in mid-20th Century institutionalized persecution of Baha’is. The legislation provided certain freedoms to Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians minorities, but none to the Baha’is and yet their actions did not stop the Baha’i Faith from becoming a global religion. Iran’s government controlled news media intended to raise the level of hatred against the Baha’i community by diverting the attention of the public from economic and political changes happening in Iran. The repression was directed not only to the individual Baha’is, but also to the Baha’i community and institutions. Many Baha’is have been arrested, detained and executed by Iranian authorities without any basis of actual crime.

The Baha’i Faith is the largest minority religion in Iran with approximately 300,000 followers. It originated in Iran in the mid-nineteenth century, but is not a sect of Islam. It is an independent religion and currently there are 5 million followers in over 200 countries and territories. It recognizes the divine origin of ALL the world’s great religions systems although it has its own sacred scriptures. As Baha’is, we believe in progressive revelation, the unity of mankind, the equality between man and woman, the harmony of science and religion, and the importance of universal education. The Baha’i Faith eschews violence.

We were always taught by our parents to be careful about what we said and did because the government was watching the Baha’is. It was customary at that time that a female would not leave the house without being accompanied by an adult male. If I wanted to buy fabric to make a dress, my father would go with me to the bazaar. This meant that I had to always depend on others for what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. Whether I was at school or at a gathering of other people, I always felt I was in a cage and my life was controlled by unreasonable people. However, when I was amongst Baha’is, I felt free.

In Tehran, Baha’is had their own hospital, cemetery and a recreation area that would facilitate teaching of games, crafts, typing and sports. As children and youth, we were encouraged to participate in social activities in the recreation area at least once a month and report our progress. It was a healthy environment in which to learn and socialize. My parents used to take us there once a week. There