Weimar, With or Without Chairs


This is part of my letter to Mr. Naghed regarding his article:
http://www.naghed.net/Maghale_ha/weimar_sandali.htm

The complete ext of my letter on Mr. Naghed's website :
http://www.naghed.net/Nameh_ha/nameh_ha.htm


Dear Mr. Naghed

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Your "Sandali-haye Sangi-e Shahr-e Weimar", after a long time, reminded me on this favorite city of mine. With your article, I could walk and look around again, revisiting Goethe in every room of his house, revisiting the streets,..... I could even seat on a bench smoking a cigarette and contemplating about.... who knows what.

Back then, about fifteen years ago, there were no chairs carved in stone, no poem in stone and no talk about "Dialogue Among Civilizations". But Goethe carved the idea softly and patiently in hearts of millions... as Hafiz did it for so many centuries. The "Chair Story" and "Dialogue story" happened there, just because it was Weimar, a culturally rich city.

Dear Naghed, not every city can become Weimar or Shiraz over night.

The story of "Dialogue Among Civilizations" got the least attention in US. What was being cultivated here was unleashed in the same year, year of "Dialogue Among Civilizations" , in 2001 after 9-11 in form of War on Terror. Before the end of the same year, US navy was on the way to Afghanistan and Iraq......

It was also in the same year that United Nations gathering on Racism, Apartheid and Xenophobia ended in disaster in South Africa.... No wonder if even Khatami doesn't talk about it much these days.
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Best Regards;

Siamak D. Ahi
Jul 9th 2005
Richmond CA