Cultural Considerations
“The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy.” Persian proverbs are among the only figures of speech in my ethnic group and even family. Every time I feel lethargic or hopeless, my mother pummels me with Persian proverbs meant to soothe the heart and brain. Living in Iran, one must memorize every proverb written because it so common in the language. It is not slang nor a figure of speech that is whipped or tormented throughout centuries. Proverbs are held dear to every Middle Easterner and it is the mother language that unifies us no matter what country we come from. They may seem hackneyed to the naked eye but proverbs have a tendency to appear in a conversation. My mother has not lived a day without expressing a new proverb or rekindling the old ones. One of her favorites is “whatever is in the heart will come up to the tongue” because it is kind of her way of saying think before you speak. Even to this day, my family depends on the elation and accuracy of the proverbs to guide them through their lives. This phenomena only applies to my culture because Persian proverbs are not taught in schools. They are passed down from generation to generation and only the pure Middle Easterner’s vein carries the blood of unification. Since the dawn of Mesopotamia, the people have been scattered all around the world. They say that the only way to coalesce them is to utter a Persian proverb!
I use Persian proverbs at home and at family gatherings but I can not seem to teach nor discuss them with my fellow peers outside of my culture. Sometimes, I hesitate to say a Persian proverb because it might offend somebody. When I first moved to the United States, I was not aware of the fact that people did not understand my language. In my sixth grade English class, my teacher had invited a motivational speaker to talk about a new program offered in only elementary schools called D.A.R.E. This program educated children about drugs and how they can lead to hazardous problems. He told us that we should confide in our teachers if we ever get involved in a situation that seems threatening or confusing. Haphazardly, I raised my pale and scrawny arm in the air. The gentleman called on me and I said, “If the teacher be corrupt, the world will be corrupt.” The students, the gentleman, and the teacher stared at me; but my teacher kindly changed the subject. After class, she called me to her desk and told me that she was very offended at the fact that I was calling her a “bad teacher.” It was not my intention to direct the focus on on her or anybody else in the class. My only remark was that teachers are the foundation of the society; they provide education, guidance, and a parent relationship with the student. When a teacher is unethical, students will not receive the proper education and counsel. It was not my forethought to attack her; I was simply trying to make a point regarding the importance of teachers in a student’s life. This incident taught me to not utter a Persian proverb in public again because people did not relate to them.
