Iran Love of My Heart

Hear and see Nazanin Afshin Jam sing

This personal page on the Internet spans my youth and nearly a lifetime of service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran. It all ended up with the spectacular revolution of 1979. My existence since then, never became the stirring enterprise I imagined it would be, but neither have I burrowed with the gophers, except the ones on the Internet. I suppose that since the Iranian crash of 79, it has mostly resembled the erratic ups and downs of a Wall Street stock market. A lot more downs than ups, but always animated for sure.
 

Left, with son Cyrus Sepahbody and my Persian Lion emblem back in Old Days.
Do not be misled, I am not a special individual, just an Iranian like others on the Net with perhaps one too many thoughts on his mind. Thoughts as to why did we fail so miserably? Take this one: we experienced two revolutions aimed at achieving democracy the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 and the one of late 1978. In my mind both of them failed thoroughly. The last one only removed the King without implementing a regime of democracy and tolerance that many of its participants had wished for. As the French say, those who launch revolutions are the cuckolds of history. If you ask me why? Here is one answer:
 

"When a nation has not fully experienced the opportunity to appreciate the values of freedom and democracy, not even the most perfect golden words inscribed in a lofty constitution or the most sophisticated laws can help to shake off the yoke of centuries of authoritarian rule. Freedom, law, justice, independence and human rights will remain empty slogans which fail to translate into reality without a broad national awareness and understanding of these values. People should first understand what freedom and democracy truly mean. This goal can only be achieved by combating backwardness, superstition, and preparing everyone to understand the true meanings and benefits of the above values. A task probably better left to a new generation of Iranians... specially our younger friends over the Internet who should commit themselves to the mission of "teachers of society."
 

Optimists may label this Internet page as being somehow worthwhile, pessimists would stamp it as gloomy and having a profusion of I. In my mind it is a little bit of both. But no matter how you reflect, it does not change the fact that it involves a great deal of my life and the path I have chosen to follow. I have no complaints about my long trail and the countless places it has taken me in all these years; but I do have enough grievances about some people I met, and about things I've seen, including dirty politics -- enough to fill a football arena, or better the Internet. So count on me and do expect more on this page soon.
 

In the final analysis, it all comes down to this, the route I have chosen has always been what I thought to be the just one, the love for Iran, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Oh Iran, gold of my heart, land of my forefathers - when I'll depart, you know where my thoughts will go. Perchance, my mission is not finished, God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things, including paying my Visa card. Right now, I am so far behind, that my ship can but arrive later...  Photo right, my wife Angela in 1954.

I traveled the world from the day I was born, and that was the life of a diplomat, from father to son. I moved to Sedona, Arizona in 1992 to settle for good and perhaps there will be new adventures in store. Who knows? A simple look at all the little friendly beasties of Arizona above, may confirm that. This site is still in construction - so please take a look at the main working sites listed above.

Persepolis by Moonlight

قلعه رودخان Ghalehroodkhan