This was such a weird weekend. On my way to the park I saw the daughter of our neighbor against the door wall, listening as her parents fought. She was holding on to her stuffed teddy bear and rested her head on it. Due to heavy rain the area was flooded and there were fish swimming everywhere. At the park an older couple sat on a park bench, watching the neighbor’s door float by them. The older couple had lost everything. Their flooded neighborhood has been deemed a disaster. The home they believed they would die in together no longer existed. Earlier they had seen most of their clothes drift by. They kissed as the door reached them. On my way back a neighbor invited me inside for a drink. In the kitchen, she put some powder in a blender. She unscrewed the cap of a liquor bottle and poured it in the mixture and took a drink. Then the man came home from work. He took off his jacket and tie and unbuttoned his shirt, Underneath he was wearing a black bodysuit. It seemed like he feared to tell people his secret. His family would have disowned him and he could lose his job if any of his colleagues found out.
At 12:00 PM on Saturday, October 28, 2023, in honor of Cyrus the Great Day, you are invited to our unveiling of a monumental statue of Cyrus the Great at the Millennium Gate dedicated to liberty, justice and peace. Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid empire, upon liberating Babylon, freed the slaves, established racial equality and rights for women, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion and returned their various gods to their shrines. He also helped the Jews build The Second Temple. According to the Book of Isaiah, Cyrus was anointed by God as a messiah for these actions, the only non-Jewish figure to be revered in this capacity. Iranian and Jewish peoples share an ancient bond of friendship that modern Islamic fanaticism has tried (and failed) to destroy. Remembering the past is a powerful perspective for shaping the future; one where diverse peoples and cultures live together in freedom and harmony. Cyrus the Great’s decrees wer
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