Listen to me
Me the dreamer of peace
Tell them about me
To your clan, to your friends
Tell them about this hopeful dreamer.
 
Tell them to listen
Listen to my desires
They’re not delusions
Nor are they nightmarish fantasies
Tell them of my hopes and
Yes, that I am afraid
Afraid of failure.
 
It may not be much
Optimism of an old man
But that’s all I have and
I’ll shout it to all who’ll hear, or not
It’s my dream, my desire, my hope
If I cry, if I laugh, if I live or if I die
My dream will not change, not vanish
Will not be drawn by other voices.
 
For a world without peace cannot exist
Nor can I live such, I don’t know how
I want us all to be loved
By us, by them, by our elders and our children
Only then can we smile at life
At ourselves and each other
So, if I am furious and shouting
Listen to me and my words
There is only one world
It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours
It needs harmony, it needs peace,
Only then will it be loved by all.
 
Reza Ghadimi
July 2024

Last Tuesday (July 9th) was the birthday of the Queen of Romance: Barbara Cartland (1901). She wrote more than 700 novels and sold a billion books. She said: "My stories are always the same, because the girl is pure, and the man is not. The man will go to bed with any woman, but my heroine not until page two hundred, when she has a wedding ring on her finger. I tried writing modern books, but I found it very difficult to create convincing virgins in modern dress, so my stories are always set between approximately 1790 and 1890."
It is interesting that I have the same sentiment about today’s world leaders and politicians. As I find it very difficult to locate a peacemaker among them. The NATO Alliance is meeting in Washington this week, to celebrate its 75th anniversary. And not a one of them is talking about peace. Rather, they all boast about strengthening their military and preparing for more wars. The irony is that many of these so-called leaders either served or were present in the wars of the not so distance past.  Just last month, many of the same ones met in France to remember D-Day, eighty years ago. Are we really forgetting our history?
I don’t think that there has ever been a more appropriate time in history for a peacemaker. For this world is so in need of a Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King right now.

Reza Ghadimi

As we celebrate in this time of uncertainties, ponder
A beautiful gift of life is experience.
Experience gives us understanding.
Understanding gives us knowledge.
Knowledge gives us know-how.
Know-how gives us satisfaction.
Such wisdom gives us contentment.
To be content, choose wisely.

Reza Ghadimi