I was asked by an Iranian lady what ethnicity I was. I explained to her that I was Afghan American. She went on to say that she HATED when Afghans and others call themselves Persians, a term she explained was to only be used by Iranians. I understood her reasoning, when you hear Persian you automatically think of Iranians but the way she explained it, with such hatred towards the claim of being Persian upset me a bit. I explained to her that Afghanistan and northern Iraq was part of the core of Persia and the people still consider themselves Iraqi or Afghan but also Persian.
She disputed this claim. I then explained that Ahmadinejad made a speech at the UN that clearly supported their "region". I explained that many people still consider these regions part of Persia. In fact, I explained, that the capitol of Persia or the stronghold of Persia was Babylon. She agreed. I explained to her that Babylon is present day Iraq. I futher explained that when Alexander married a "Persian" princess, she was actually from Balkh, northern Afghanistan.
She was getting upset. I ignored the rest of her reasoning considering that she had no idea of Persian history. I explained one more thing. I explained that the creator of the Durrani Dynasty in Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Baba, was the commanding general for Nader Shah Afshar, a Iranian king, who was killed by Turkomens and the blame was to be on one of his wives. The people closest to the King killed him and Ahmad Shah protected the family of the deceased king and brought them back to their capitol. Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians are all part Persia.
This lady then explained that Afghans do not speak Farsi but speak Dari. I stated this was true but Dari is a dialect of Farsi. It is a more formal dialect nicknamed "the court of the kings". Another lady explained that she speaks Arabic but a certain dialect, but it is still considered Arabic. The Iranian lady then called me an "encyclopedia" in a derogatory way. I had to completely ignore her while she sat next to me.
I typically get this aggressive and hostile reaction from Iranians after they are introduced to me. I never understood it until an older and friendly Iranian explained it was because of my name. I didn't understand it. Afghans have alwasy been friendly to Iranians. I learned that Iranians do not respect my name becuase it is the name of Mohammed's 3rd wife, Aisha. She is considered by Sunnis to be "the Mother of the Believers". While much of the Muslim world respect her, and the much of teachings of Mohammed was spread by Aisha, Shiites do not like her. Shiites blame her for starting the first Muslim on Muslim bloodshed. She raised an army to fight against Ali, the caliph that Shiites dearly love. Learning more about this explains certain actions. I only receive this type of treatment when my name is revealed.
I personally hope this is not true. I was always taught to respect the quality of the person, not the type. The others around me felt that this was unnecessary and uncalled for. They apologized on her behalf and we ignored the whole situation. This is not to say that all Iranians act like this, her sister is one of the nicest people I have ever met.
So I recently attended a silent auction in which all the proceeds would go to the orphans of Afghanistan. I was happy to see a lot of different types of people that showed up to the event. I saw a lot of young people that were educated and had an interest in helping the needy. I saw a lot of different people, from different regions of the US, different educational backgrounds, different socio-economical backgrounds and everyone wanted to help even in our rough economic time. I applaud everyone that donated something for the auction, my father donated a few of his own artwork coffee table books and I lost on a few bids but I still enjoyed the festivities. I am happy to see people truly care especially for orphans in a country in which family is the most important thing in the society. I hope this continues.
Even though the auction has came and went it is always good to help. The organization that has established two schools is still need in financial support to maintain these schools.
Click this link in order to donate DONATE TO THE ORPHAN PROJECT
There are plenty of different charities to donate to and I will post more as time goes on.
So I have been researching many different fields of interest for my own knowledge and feel as though I would not be able to get the same information from my own school. I want more for myself and feel as though I have to go out of my way to learn the things I feel are important or that I feel would benefit me.
Please do this for yourself, education is the most important thing in one's life. It may take a long time but it is the only way to better yourself. Don't ever stop; from reading a book at night to taking full time classes at school. It is beneficial for yourself and society.
Dealing with people is always difficult when the other person is unreasonable.
A simple story can be taken the wrong way and blown out of proportion.
The first thing most people would do is to try to explain the situation or calm that person down.
But realistically, that does not help. The best thing to do is just ignore that person. Explain that they are being childish or making too much out of the situation. Tell them to calm down and then completely ignore that person.
Sure, anger or shock will consume you. Understanding the person's reaction to nothing is difficult when you can not reason with them.
Ignore people that do this and it will be a good overall. Maybe that person had a bad day or will realize their fault the next day. Just do not try.
I know it is easier said than done, I know from experience.