Let's learn together!

[behnam]

As I said before there is nothing I want to oppose you, there is a gap ,but it is very narrow , I try to narrow down the distances between the two idea , but if the ideas was the same and there was no tensions ,how could I broke your resolution !!?

Hi Mohsen,
So many thanks for your patience. As you've put it, the gap between us is narrow. I am happy that we are trying to narrow it as much as possible. I hope we will seal the gap completely. It depends on your seriousness in filling the gap.

I do believe in 'Shafaat'. You should have noticed that I have great faith in 'Shafaat'! Therefore, you shouldn't have chosen a special verse from the Holy Koran to prove it to me! There are many verses in the Holy Koran in agreement and disagreement with 'Shafaat'. It shows that the subject needs to be dealt carefully. In my last post I wrote 'شرطها و شروطها". Unfortunately, you didn't pay even little attention to it.

Dear Mohsen, let's have a constructive negotiation. First, let's list what we(you and I) have in common: 1) We are both Muslim. 2) We both believe in the Holy Koran. 3) We are both Shiite. 4) We both believe in "Shafaat'. Oh, we have many things in common; for example, we are both male, we are married, etc. I have only selected some views related to the subject we both share.

What is the main dissension? I think the main difference between us relates to the different angles we are looking at 'Shafaat'. You are looking at it from an angle that the majority of Iranian and ordinary Shiite people look at it. I am also an Iranian and I have looked at that angle too. However, I am trying to look at it from another angle. Changing looking-angle doesn't necessarily mean denying other views! Quite the contrary, if we approach the subject from different angles, we increase our knowledge of it. Let's use different frame of references. It will give us more filed of views, and shed light on the issues.

What is wrong with the angle that the majority of Iranian use for looking at 'Shafaat'? Unfortunately, the vast majority of Iranian Shiite people have a wrong understanding of 'Shafaat'. They think 'Shafaat' is using their influence with important people(prophets, Imamas, good people,...) in order to make God change his idea about them. This is called 'Pulling strings' in English and its Persian equivalent is 'پارتی بازی'! This wrong understanding of 'Shafaat' has a lot of negative and destructive effects, and encourages people to commit sins.

Why do Iranian people think like that? That's a complicated issue, but I personally believe the lack of democracy for thousands of years in Iran has made people use their influence with important people who had have a sort of connection to the king as the most important person of the society! There are many sayings, proverbs, stories, etc. in our literature which agree with this idea. In our society, the closer someone was to king, the more money and positions s/he received! Unfortunately, the vast majority of Iranian people think of God as a large king; prophets and Imams as his helpers in the both worlds; particularly on judgement day! They think the same judging system or benefit-distributing mechanism is used by God in both worlds!

I have been teaching at different universities for years. You cannot believe what students write in their papers instead of answering to the questions. You cannot even imagine who calls and bargains for getting extra marks. You cannot guess what kinds of excuses the students make to justify their shortcomings. Many friends of mine are teaching at different universities in different countries. I am in contact with them. They laugh at me when hear these things! Why? Pulling strings is a virtue in our society. For the same reason we say; "I love Imam Hussein, I love Ali, .."(PBU them). We don't notice that loving someone gives many responsibilities and provides many commitments. We don't care about those commitments and responsibilities!

Brother Mohsen, please refer to ' Hekmat-e 37 in Nahjolbalaghe'. Read it, think about it, and dig it! It gives a lot of amazing lessons and insights to us!

Brother Mohsen, please don't mix 'Shafaat' and 'Mojeze' together. What Jesus has done were his 'Mojeze' by the power and blessing of God! Now, Jesus is doing nothing! When Moses dropped his stick by the order of God, it became a large dragon and swallowed all the magics. After that, God asked Moses to take his stick. Moses afraid of it and took the stick by using his hat! Moses is in the grave now, and his stick does nothing! We should think of these events. They all give us useful lessons.

Finally, dear Mohsen, I do believe in 'Shafaat', but under special conditions and circumstances. I disagree with the belief of the majority of Iranian people in it. I believe, 'Shafaat' with right understanding creates positive results in a society. However, wrong understanding of it causes us to kiss soil, metals, stones, with the lips which are-sometimes- coated by wine , and hope for fooling God by using the influence of Prophets and Imams. We think God has got the same emotions that we human beings have. Therefore, we think it is possible to make God and his governors(Prophets and Imams...)emotional in order to blackmail them!

The way God governs the universe is different from the ways that Iranian kings used to do! This is the main point!

All the best,
Behnam, 24 April, 2015

[setareh]

My father told me about one of his friends who has diabetes; his big toe got infected and his doctor told him that it must be amputated. He was so disappointed and somehow his condition got worse. His family took him to another doctor. After examining him carefully the doctor told him that there was no need to cut off his toe; he must use the prescription that doctor was going to give him. The doctor also added that he was so optimistic meanwhile the doctor talked to his family and told them that his morale is so low and cutting his toe would make it worse, so in order to boost his morale lets give him some time and try some other ways. I hope they work.
Hopefully after a month there was a sign of recovery. Gradually he got better; now his toe has no problem and he is fine. This doctor was aware of our mental power, power of hope and power of positive attitudes. So he tried to build up the old man’s down morale first and then try other things.
It is scientifically proven that humans are more likely to overcome their obstacles with hope and positive attitudes. So if we nurture our mind with positive thinking then whenever we face a problem we would see how they are going to help us.
People might say that they have seen plenty of sick ones who were so positive but they could not heal themselves and eventually died. I would say yeah that’s right but the way they spend the only time they had for life had been way better than those who lost those times in desperate and hopelessness and it matters so much.
Hope is like our mental engine. Without hope we can not go forward. We can not follow our dreams. We can not reach our goals and finally we can not stand up after every failure. Every time we are in difficulty hope whisper don’t worry there is light at the end of tunnel, get up do something and God will help you. Every time we think” that’s it, there is no hope”; hope would try to encourage us to get up and find the silver lining in those clouds called problems.
I wish you all a mind full of positive attitudes and hope through your difficulties.
Sincerely,
Setareh

[setareh]

Dear Behnam I completely agree with you, although you don’t need my approval in order to be right, your logic can support you well. You are right we, Iranians have misunderstood so many facts about religion and surprisingly although most of us are aware of the fact but still insist on our wrong believes.
My brother told me about one of his colleagues; he is going to get married and he told that because of financial issue he is not going to have a wedding ceremony. He and his wife are going to go to Mecca then come back sell their car in order to rent a house. Mostly we would say” oh what a faith”. Haven’t we heard that affordability is one of the conditions for one in order to go Mecca? In my Opinion Its sheer stupidity wrapped up in so-called belief and faith.
There is a nice saying” charity begins at Home”. for those who ponder.
wish you the best,
Setareh

[Mohsen]

Hi Behnam,

I was busy during this week , had three short travels , my boss was going to sign a contract with a rich man for a business transaction and the rich man was supposed to give a security for the fulfilment of his obligation ,so he offered a land as collateral , his land was in the country ,40 km far from Esfahan .so I had to go there to visit the land and get the confirmation from documents registration administration. At morning he ( the rich man) picked me up from office and take me to that area , we were together three days ,he had an air of haughty , his appearance, I didn’t like to look at his face ,a big golden necklace was around his neck and his unbuttoned shirts which showed his thick wool , sometimes he puffed his cigarette , he said some stories to convinced me how much his dignity is noble, he said “ look at this area , my lands start from here and end at that mountains “, “ most of my family are living in Europe” “ when my boy was studying in oxford university I paid 10000 pounds for him/each terms until he got his PHD ,now my boy has several offices and positions in Tehran and Europe “ … I only listened to his stories , sometimes I looked at him ,thought and asked myself why should be this stupid man the owner of too much money and properties .but finally I was motivated to advise him “ well you are a rich man and you can do a lot of job for people with your money , that is the only thing which remain for you otherwise all people buried only wrapped with one winding sheet , when walking in cemetery ,you see the grave of rich and poor , they both were buried with a shroud , he only listen to me with a foolish smile in his face, I read the peom from Baba Taher

به قبرستان گذر کردم کم وبیش
بدیدم قبر دولتـــمند و درویــش
نه درویش بیکفن در خــاک رفته
نه دولتمند برده یک کفن بیش

I asked him “ Do you see your boy and do you feel him in your life “ He answered that his boy is very busy and had no time to visit his parents , I said myself what a poor man he is while apparently he is rich.

Fortunately the contract wes not sign ,because his lands' document had some official problems



Dear Behnam , I read your post , you spoke about other people’ idea which you called them ordinary people, I disagree with your idea in this case ,but first I like to know what is your idea about it ( Shafaat) ?, you didn’t explain about your idea , you only criticized the people .

Of course there is a problem that some people think that they are not ordinary people . if he/she is a doctor ,thinks that he understand everything better than other ,like that rich man and his boy which has PHD

B.Wishes
Mohsen

[behnam]

Dear Behnam , I read your post , you spoke about other people’ idea which you called them ordinary people, I disagree with your idea in this case ,but first I like to know what is your idea about it ( Shafaat) ?, you didn’t explain about your idea , you only criticized the people .

Of course there is a problem that some people think that they are not ordinary people . if he/she is a doctor ,thinks that he understand everything better than other ,like that rich man and his boy which has PHD

Hi Mohsen,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Thank you for replying, but are you sure that you have read my post? Are you sure that I've called those people as 'ordinary people'?

My idea about 'Shafaat' is clear. What I am saying is this: Besides
" اذْهَبُوا بِقَمِیصِی هَذَا فَأَلْقُوهُ عَلَى وَجْهِ أَبِی یأْتِ بَصِیرًا وَأْتُونِی بِأَهْلِکُمْ
أَجْمَعِین "
and
" یوْمَ نَدْعُوا كُلَّ أُناسٍ بِإِمامِهِمْ "
and ...
we should also pay careful attention to
1) "وَ لا یَشفَعونَ اِلا لِمَن ارْتَضی"
2) " لَیْسَ لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ وَلِیٌّ وَلاَ شَفِیعٌ لَّعَلَّهُمْ یَتَّقُونَ "
3) " يَوْمَئذٍ لَّا تَنفَعُ الشَّفَاعَةُ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّحْمَانُ وَ رَضىِ‏َ لَهُ قَوْلا"
and ....

According to some experts, thirty verses of the Holy Koran are(somehow)about 'Shafaat'! We should consider all of them to understand the exact meaning of it.

I'd like to rewrite that the majority of Iranians' idea about 'Shafaat' is based on a wrong understanding of it. About the last paragraph of your post, I prefer to stay silent!

All the best,
Behnam, 30 April, 2015

[elbistani]

hi
This is Kamil, male, 37 from Turkey. I very liked this wonderfull site and its friendly atmoshere.There are very useful information here for learners of english as a second language.This forum is very helpful for beginners at learning english like me.I am very interested in topics discussed here.I want to contribute this forum as much as I can.
I want to learn english to take sufficient grade at toefl exam.One component of toefl exam is writing part.I think my reading is better than my writing .Making writing exercises is one of the best ways to develop writing ability.
My friends,
English is world-wide language and all of us has a story to learn english.It is very interesting to communicate with people other than your mother tongue.You experience this feeling by speaking a foreign language.It is said that the most important and effective language is '' Heart-language'' in other words ''language of heart'' and There is an arabic proverb (which is very difficult for me to translate but I will try) ''only the words words who come from heart are able to arrive other people's hearts''. Why do I write this is that the only way which goes to word peace will be possible when good (I am sorry I couldn't find any other word) people starts to speak with the language of heart.

Best wishes
Kamil
30 April 20015

[Hurieh]

Hi Mushaf, Hi Mohsen, Hi friends,…

How are you? How do you do?? How are things???
I’m that multitasked Hurieh who kept complaining about over scheduling. Do you remember?!? Winking.

It’s said:”Child’s silence should be considered the calm before storm.” I wonder whether this hypothesis is attributable to other age groups and our active friend dear Andrew who is absent mysteriously for such a long time. He should have already informed his friends about his long absence. It’s ok though. Wherever he is and whatever he is doing, I hope he is fine and enjoying his every moments, and so are the rest of our absent friends.

By the way, my silence has it’s usual reason. It is and will be a good excuse to reduce extra distractions in order to stay focused on my preferential tasks. These days I’m quite tied up with many tasks. I’ve been working on two separate projects which demand different skills including writing in formal standard style, being conversant with statics and SPSS, having linguistic and intuitive sense, possessing general information, and whatnot. So I can’t shoulder the burden of writing to my virtual friends as I used to do, and I can’t either complain about.



Anyway, it was completely out of politeness to keep my friends’ posts unanswered.


Dear Mushaf, It’s great to read from you. You know, I’ve got many interesting memories in holy city of Mashhad and I love visiting the holy shrine of Imam Reza(PBUH) too much. For me holy city of Mashhad is the center of gravity in which I’ve received great tranquility and calmness. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever visited. I don’t know where these feelings come from, and wonder whether other people have such feelings towards Imam Reza as well. Anyway, I miss him very soon.
Meanwhile, your writing has greatly progressed. I guess you’ve been following an organized schedule for learning English and boosting your skills. Please Keep it up.


Dear Mohsen, it’s nice to read your beautiful descriptions of spring. I’ve already seen your gorgeous yard filled with several plants and flowers in a post, and deduced you must have got green fingers. I remember you wish you had a private garden.

I also love nature and natural things. Walking in parks and mount climbing give me pleasant feeling and unlimited calmness. I personally believe we pretend to be urban people, but we all are country folks at heart. We belong to the nature, and we are part of it. People tend to migrate to big cities and live in small apartments and high skyscrapers to get more facilities and amenities forgetting their needs for peace of mind and tranquility. I’ve read it’s opposite in some developed countries. Their citizens are moving towards the suburbs and countries to get rid of hectic life and it’s fast pace. I love the nature for it’s calmness; however I’m not in favor of living in suburb or rural areas myself—winking- because I’m still living in a developing country.

By the way, spring is too short in Yazd. Although the weather is still tolerable, but we should gradually get ourselves ready for brutal summer in Yazd which will provide us with skin tanning free of charge. Yazd is a peaceful city to live in, but the temperature is intolerably high in summer. That’s why I keep reading this poem when I get closer to summer:

قایقی خواهم ساخت/خواهم انداخت به آب/ دور خواهم شد از این شهر غریب

I tried to get habituated to this city for more than a decade, but sounds like it’s impossible somehow. I can’t have dependency—تعلق خاطر—to that at my heart. As Khajeh Hafez has beautifully written:

***
/در غربت اگر کسی بماند ماهی /گر کوه بود، از او نماند کاهی/ بیچاره غریب، اگرچه ساکن باشد
چون یاد وطن کند برآرد آهی

***It’s said Hafez has written this –رباعی—in 771 Solar Hejri when he was jailed in Sekandar Prison of Yazd and missed his hometown Shiraz greatly. What a nice coincidence!!!… Smiling.

Gotta go. My tasks are calling me. Wish me luck please…

Sincere best wishes,
Hurieh
May 1st/2015

[Mohsen]

Iranians are celebrating the national Father’s Day on the birth anniversary of the first Imam of Shia Muslims, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him).

Every year, people in Iran commemorate the national Father’s Day and Men’s Day on the 13th day of the lunar Islamic month of Rajab, which marks the birth anniversary of Imam Ali.

Imam Ali was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s highly revered son-in-law and cousin as well as the first Imam of Shia Islam.

Imam Ali is respected for his courage, knowledge, belief, honesty, unbending devotion to Islam, deep loyalty to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), equal treatment of all Muslims and generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies.

Many Iranians take the occasion of this religious holiday to thank and honor their fathers as well as grandfathers and to spend more time with them. They often pay tribute to their fathers by giving them gifts.

Father’s day in Iran is a national holiday.

[Mohsen]

Dear Behnam, Dear Mortaza,

Happy father's day to you
on occasion of 13 Rajab I wish you the best luck

[Mohsen]

Hi Hurieh,
It is pleasure to read your post and knew that you are in health , just your busy schedule is the reason of your absence . I don’t know if you like the Baghlava and Pashmak ( the two famous confectionaries in Yazd) , there are several confectionaries’ shops in Isfahan which are Yazdi agent , They sell the Yazdi products in Isfahan , and I time to time go there and buy them , several times I bought Ardeh and Shireh which are Ardakan souvenirs ,I mixed the Ardeh with honey in winter and ate it at morning in winter , it gave a lot of power and warm to my body.

As usual I went to park at morning with a group of my family . this my routine job on Fridays. First we played volleyball , Badminton , a little running and exercise ,then we continue with breakfast , melons ,some ladies like to solve puzzle of magazine . finally walking beside the river , and coming back to home.

Today I hid behind a pile of plants and tried to frighten people, as they were close to me I sent out my hand with a big voice ,so they shouted and then start to laugh.
That is one trick to make people to laugh , my brother is a good climber , he climbs the tall tree to pick mulberry , it is a little soon , but I think the next week the mulberries are ripped



The river is full of water and makes beautiful sceneries.



Happy Brithday of Imam Ali to you and your family
Mohsen

[Mohsen]

Look at the following dots in map ,some of Americans think that Ukraine is a place in USA ,canada or in Africa ,Asia , Iran or Australia….


Where’s Ukraine? Each dot depicts the location where a U.S. survey respondent situated Ukraine; the dots are colored based on how far removed they are from the actual country, with the most accurate responses in red and the least accurate ones in blue.

Since Russian troops first entered the Crimean peninsula in early March, a series of media polling outlets have asked Americans how they want the U.S. to respond to the ongoing situation. Although two-thirds of Americans have reported following the situation at least “somewhat closely,” most Americans actually know very little about events on the ground — or even where the ground is.

On March 28-31, 2014, we asked a national sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International Inc., or SSI), what action they wanted the U.S. to take in Ukraine, but with a twist: In addition to measuring standard demographic characteristics and general foreign policy attitudes, we also asked our survey respondents to locate Ukraine on a map as part of a larger, ongoing project to study foreign policy knowledge. We wanted to see where Americans think Ukraine is and to learn if this knowledge (or lack thereof) is related to their foreign policy views. We found that only one out of six Americans can find Ukraine on a map, and that this lack of knowledge is related to preferences: The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S. to intervene with military force.

B.Wishes,
Mohsen

If you want to read complete article go to the washingtonpost website the following

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mon ... intervene/

[Mohsen]

Dear Behnam, Dear Mortaza,

Happy father's day to you
on occasion of 13 Rajab I wish you the best luck

Sorry , I would have said happy teachers day to both of you ,our grand teachers , it is a coincidence that teacher's day and father's day has been in a same day. I wish you and your family a long life with good health .

A teacher told me that it was a bad coincidence ,because today is holiday and there is no gifts from students

[Matyya]

I just changes my mind when I saw the new pic.

[Mohsen]

Hi Friends,

Today Evening I came back home from Tehran , During five days in Tehran I had different jobs to do , but had a good opportunity to visit two international Fair , First I went to 28th international book fair on Thursday , I bought some books , but it was a very large fair ,so I walked too much with a heavy books in my hands ,so I had to stay in Tehran and rest on Friday , just visited the holy shrine of Shah Abdul Azim Hassani on Friday which was my lucky in Rajab month , and on Saturday I went to international Gas and Oil Fair to visit new innovations and products of Iranian and international companies , I walk there from morning till the 4 PM,and visited as much as booths I could , Just now I have pain in my leg muscles and bone , I need to sleep for 8 hours ,so I go to sleep early tonight

Have a good time,
Mohsen

[Mohsen]

In fact I didn’t want to visit the Book fair, but a friend of mine who was going to continue his university education , asked me to join him there ,so I was beside him in the Fair to help him




I also went to second floor to visit foreign publishers, but only practice English speaking , a booth name was Iran and Vatican friendship, I went there to be a member . I didn't know why God has only one boy , I like to discuss it with Pop of Vatican .
Some Arabic countries was attended, I drank a glass of orange juice in Oman pavilion and they gave me a book as a gift.



In the second exhibition which I went on Saturday. Everything was about Oil and Gas companies. I enjoyed understand about many achievements and innovation of Iranian companies , one of important problem in Oil and sub branches petrochemical was the pipes ,pumps and storage ,we always import this equipment and components from Europe , but fortunately many of them are now produced by Iranian companies.

The fibre-reinforced plastic, is a high-grade composite engineering material (GRP/GRE) which has been made by several companies in Iran.



A new digital dispenser system which is able to distribute three kinds of petrol

[behnam]

Hi friends,

Today I met Elham and Setayesh in the Tehran Book Exhibition. It was a wonderful meeting. I personally enjoyed everything, particularly their friendly manner and company. We walked, talked, laughed, took some photos, ate some food, etc. We drank some juice! Oh, we were actually sitting somewhere close to the main source of juice(juice reservoir)! Heheheheh..LOL! The Juice sellers were from Azerbaijan. I spoke with them in Azerbaijani. They were friendly.

I don't know where to start to write the report from! From the beginning to the end? Noooooooooooo, it will be a very long story. At the moment, I am not in the mood for writing. I promise to write about the meeting more.

We remembered Andrew, Mohsen, Amal, Zivar, Veronica, Kamelia, Morteza, and other friends. We wrote some names on a piece of paper and took its photos to prove that you were in our thoughts. The photos are in Elham and Setayesh's mobile phones. They have promised to put some of them in the thread.

I don't know how to describe Elham and Setayesh. They are very kind, clever, polite, nice, friendly, and beautiful. In my eyes, they are like angels. I am not exaggerating at all.

The book exhibition was packed with people. It was much too much crowded. However, we could find somewhere quiet to sit and rest. How could we find that place? What was our carpet? You will see its photos and the story behind it soon. I am sure Elham and Setayesh will write about it.



Actually, Setayesh invited us(me and Elham). I named the action "Elham bini"(meeting Elham)! For example, I named my clothes 'Lebashaye Elham bini"(Clothes for meeting Elham)! Unfortunately, I had to stay in a very long line to enter the parking ; to park my car! The weather was quite hot. I stayed in the queue for about one hour, behind the steering wheel. The sun was strong. I didn't use the air conditioner! I sweated heavily! My clothes got dirty somehow! I cannot stand it when I sweat and white crystals of salt design silly patters on my clothes! It was the only negative side of the day!

It was really a great day. I enjoyed every minute of it. It will be engraved in my mind forever! In Farsi, I name it 'Didar dar Mosalla"(Meeting in Mosalla). Mosalla is the place in which the book exhibition is held. I wish you were there with us!

..........Will be continued!

All the best,
Behnam, 14 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi again,

Girls were tired. They have to take some rest to re-energize themselves. One of them emailed the photo of 'Names'. I am putting this photo in the thread to prove that you were in our thoughts.

Some names are forgotten, not on purpose, but because of the lack of concentration. We apologize to people whom names aren't in the photo.

All the best,
Behnam, 15 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi friends,

In this section, my intention is to picture the first sight between me and Elham. According to the plan, I had to be in the exhibition at 12:00. Setayesh had to join us at 13:30. Elham was there earlier than us. She was visiting the book exhibition.

I left my workplace at 10:30. The traffic was heavy. It took me 45 minutes to drive from the workplace to the book exhibition. I had to park my car in the parking area. There were three lines of car in front of the parking gate. One of the lines was shorter than the other ones. I stood in the short line. After some seconds, a police officer came and said; "sir, don't stand in this line! Go on driving! This line is not legal! Only those two lines are legal!"

There was no way to join those two-so called-legal lines. I had to continue driving to find somewhere to turn back. It took me 20 minutes to turn back and stand in one of those lines.

I got angry; with myself for driving to the exhibition, with the heavy traffic, with the people who make the exhibition unnecessarily overcrowded, with the police officer, with many other things! Unfortunately, the parking was full. They didn't let any car enter the parking, unless a car leaves it! Got it? Once again I am putting it: One car could enter the parking provided that one car leaves it and creates an empty place! You cannot imagine how awful it was! Well, the majority of people were entering the exhibition, not leaving there! Therefore, supply and demand weren't balanced! I waited for about 45 minutes to park my car. The weather was quite hot, the sun was strong and directly focusing on me behind the steering wheel! I sweated heavily!

I called Elham and told her the story. She kindly said; "That's Ok, don't worry!" I said, 'Elham, I am losing my time in the queue. Actually, we are losing the efficient use of time being with each other. Please come to the northern gate of the book exhibition and try to find me in the queue in front of the parking place. My car is dark blue, you can't miss it. Just come to the northern gate!" She kindly agreed. After some minutes she called me and said; "Behnam, I am in front of the northern gate of the exhibition. What should I do now?". I guided her to the parking place. She called me again. This time I saw her at a distance of about one hundred meters. I waved and she could see me. Finally, she found me. I was still in the queue when we met each other. She had to sit in the car and wait until I park the car. She did it patiently.

After parking the car, we went to the exhibition. It was about 12:30!

..... will be continued!

All the best,
Behnam, 15 May, 2015

[shahrubanu]

Hi to all ,hope that everybody is ok ?As you know I rarely sign to here because I have many things to do. Sometimes I feel like a bee
because of these reasons ,Some of you may not know me .I m teaching to young and adult learners I m trying to do my best to be a well-qualified teacher By the way, is there any Elt teacher in here? if it is, I really want to meet and discuss on methods to teach.
I have written in short because right now I m travelling

Wish you best! Sincere hi to all .....

[shahrubanu]

Hi Dear Elham I really miss you .We haven t chatted for a long time see you soon Insallah .I m prayer of you, don t forget me too honey I love my friend :) hopefully waiting for you on skype

[shahrubanu]

Oohh what a nice thing !you met .I m really happy for that .don t be sad you might forget my name you are always in my mind I m so busy that s why I rarely online to chat with you but anymore I m always be online status then see you soon

[Columbiana]

Hi everybody!
I want to say thanks for Behman for starting this discussion on this thread! I was very impressed after I red all commets. I'm very interested in all ways how to learn English that were offered here. My name is Denis, I'm from Ukraine, male. I'm a student a I found this web-site only for one reason: to practise more English, to communicate with other foreigners, in fact with teachers to o expand my vocabulary. My motto is: The more you work, the more you learn. As I understood, I can offer my own topic here, right? So, there were a lot of variants how to learn English I tried, and the best one is for my opinion to learn it on special web-sites. It's not a spam! I just wanna share my idea with other. I learning my English during 5 years. the last step for that was web-site Essaycool. https://essaycool.com . So, it was good for my English. Behman, how many years are you working as a teacher? Do you speak Russian? Thanks again for thread, I'll waiting rof your answers, and for your comments about my proposal (web-site)
Good luck to all!

[setareh]

I am so glad to hear your reunion. I wish you all a long-lasting friendship. Behnam we are waithing to read the rest of the story. by the way who is Zivar.
wish you all the best,
setareh

[setareh]

Marriage happens when two mature persons decide to start a family with each other, to share their happiness and sadness, to provide tranquility for one another and to have kids and raise them properly. So it must be an important decision that every body has to make in their life. It is highly recommended in every religion and culture. As we all know no matter how rich or how successful we are we can not lead a lonely life; we all have physical and mental needs and marriage seems to be the best way to meet all those needs. Every country has its own tradition about marriage but the concept of marriage is scared in all cultures. So let me ask you a question which age do you think is suitable for getting married?
Let me put it in this way. For instance if you want to vote in an election you must be sixteen years old or it might be different in other countries. If you want to get your driving license you must be eighteen years old. What about marriage? Do we have a certain age for being able to get married?
Do you think if you are only physically mature that would be enough to have the permission to get married? I have seen so many marriages especially recently of girls about fourteen or fifteen surprisingly with boys twice as their age. Oh my god! I have no idea what those boys have in their mind about marriage or what the parents are thinking. Maybe a girl is somehow physically mature at the age of fifteen but is she also mentally mature? I don’t think so.
In my opinion there must be some regulation about marriage as well. It is one of the most important decisions that is made in every one’s life so I don’t think that a fifteen years old kid could make such a decision. Marriage at such a young age mostly deprives a girl from continuing her education. I believe that an educated person could be a better wife and a better mother; there would be some exceptions of course. But generally speaking no one can doubt the benefits of education.
That would be great to share your ideas with us. Thanks beforehand.
Wish you all the best,
Setareh

[Amalrab]

Dear friends:

I am really happy that you finally met.. I wish I was with you although I am sure that I was in your heart.. Thanks for writing my name on the list.

Dear Behnam, I want to thank you because you wrote those posts which made me imagine and live every minute as if I were with you, please write more and tell us about our friends..
Dear, I think you were one of the luckiest men on the world because you had two beautiful girls around you!

Dear Eli, one of my biggest dreams is meeting you.. You know that you are always in mind and heart.. Really love you.. I would like to hear from you too about the meeting and about our naughty friend, did he say any jokes?

Wish you happiness.
Amal

[Elham]

Hi Every body,

How are things with you all? Hope you are enjoying life. As you've noticed we had a meeting in book exhibition
with Behnam and Setare! It was just great. I remember the moments of this really nice meeting every day and it brings a beautiful smile on my lips.

It always was one of my wishes to meet my dear Behnam and Setare,since in recent years they've been my best and closest friends. We've been so intimate and share almost everything together. We listen to each other,spend time together,share happy and sad events and feelings with each other and it's not an exaggeration if I say we are part of each other's life. It was a real pity if couldn't meet together.

I'm really thankful of Behnam and Setare who made this meeting possible. Although at first I disagreed and was lazy to go to Tehran, I'm happy that finally I decided to do it.

Dear Behnam is a real gentleman. He's so kind, caring and knows well how to treat with ladies. He was just the same professor Behnam we all know. He's always been a great man in my eyes and it was my pleasure to see this great man in person and talk with him face to face and eye to eye. I felt comfortable and relaxed with him.It was really enjoyable to spend time with him and again learning things from him as always. You can't imagine how HAPPY and excited I was when I first saw him standing near his car waving hand for me from distance. It was a wonderful moment I never forget.

Ohhh, dear Behnam with his special blue color... Everything was blue with him..his car, his shirt and suit, his pen, his Tasbih.....just like his blue color in the thread

Fortunately, my lovely Setare was a girl and I could hug her! When we saw each other I didn't let her kiss me at the first moment, I just hugged her firmly twice. I believe hugging is the best way to show my warm feelings for other people so I couldn't help hugging Setare the moment I saw her for the first time. I hope my positive energy has been transferred

Setare is a very beautiful girl. She's very wise and polite. In my eyes Setare is a real lady. She's got a very soft and lovely voice, you never get bored of hearing her. Good for her friends; she was going to take a trip with her friends. I wish I was among those friends


Dear Behnam, Dear Setare,
Thank you very much for everything. It was a great honor for me to meet you. I really enjoyed it and I wish it could take longer. Thank you indeed for your lovely gifts to me. Every thing was just great with you. "Meeting in "Mosala" turned to be one of the sweetest memories of my whole life.

Love you,
KISS

[Elham]

Dear Shahrebanoo,

How are you honey. Long time no see. I have missed you dear.

Oh you haven't looked at the picture of names carefully! Your name is just in front of name of Hurie. Check it again please honey.

How great could it be if all the lovely members of Let's learn together could meet! Wow, even imagining it is enjoyable.

Please write more and try to spend more time online for chatting. I'm looking forward to talking with you soon.

Take care honey,
Eli

[Elham]

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear Amal,

I'm sad with you. Why aren't you Iranian too? If you were, you could join us too. Change being Arab to Persian and leave your country to Iran so that we could have you with us next time

Do you believe me if I say I really really really Loved to have you with us there? Your place was empty,really empty. It's my wish to see you in person and hug you just like I hugged Setare. If I see you some day, I'll take your hand in mine and won't leave it even one second.

Oh Yes, Behnam was the same naughty Behnam! Although he himself claim that he's not been as naughty as he's in net,I detected his naughtiness from the first minutes of the meeting! He's always a nice man who knows how to make his friends enjoy their time around him and make them laugh. He found a very good place to sit and bought lunch for us. I thank him again here for all his kindness.

In the hope of meeting Amal in the near future,
KISS
Eli

[LanguageBox]

The discussion started 2012. Do you guys thing there was an improvement in your English since then? I mean because of the discussion?

[reindeer]

Yes, we do thing so! Yes there was an improvement. The discussion turned out very useful.

[behnam]

So, it was good for my English. Behman, how many years are you working as a teacher? Do you speak Russian?

Hi Denis,

Welcome to this thread! Thank you for joining us and putting comment in this place.
I am a physics teacher, and I've been teaching Physics for a long time; many years actually. My life is totally involved in learning and teaching Physics. Unfortunately, I don't speak in Russian. I speak Farsi, Azerbaijani, A little bit Turkish and Arabic!

As I understood, I can offer my own topic here, right?

Of course you can! You can offer your own topic and write about it. We will also put comment on your topics. We are here to practice English through writing and reading. Your topics will provide us with some opportunities to write and then to practice.

My motto is: The more you work, the more you learn.

Nice motto! The more you practice, the more you learn!

What do you study? I hope to hear more from you.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

The discussion started 2012. Do you guys thing there was an improvement in your English since then? I mean because of the discussion?

Hi LanguageBox!

How are you? I hope you are fine. Thank you for putting comment.

Actually, I started writing on WWW.English-at-home.com in 2007. From 2007 until now I've been writing English almost regularly; continuously. In 2012 we decided to leave other sites and to write on this power site.

In answer to your question; yes, writing does help with practicing English. As you can see by glancing through 118 pages on this site, and downloading 4 files in PDF format from WWW.Scribd.com. Each file contains about 1000 pages. Dear Elham has made 4 files from our previous posts on WWW.English-at-home.com. You can go to WWW.Scribd.com and search for 'Let's Learn Together!'. I hope you will find them.

Hope to hear more from you.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Shahrbanoo,

Thank you for your nice posts and kind words. How are you dear? Long time no see! How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and enjoying every minute of your life.

I hope to read more from you. Please don't lose contact with this thread. We love your presence!

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Elham,

Thank you so much for your posts and friendly words. You have pictured the meeting beautifully. I used to call myself 'eagle-eyed' Behnam, but now I see you are much more eagle-eyed than me! You've noticed some details.

After Parking the car in the parking area, we walked towards the book exhibition. The weather was boringly hot and the exhibition was overcrowded. Walking was really difficult. It was like swimming in the pool filled by human beings; not water! Therefore, you can imagine what your hands will touch and where your body will impact

Elham was tired and thirsty. She has spent many hours in the Sun among those heavy traffic of people. I bought her a bottle of water. She couldn't open the top of the bottle, so I did it for her.

She has put some of her stuff in an office. I don't know its equivalent in English; somewhere at the entrance to the book exhibition. Some people were responsible to take your things and put them in a box and give you a piece of paper. On the paper the box number in which your things are kept is written. Elham wanted to take her stuff back, but she didn't know where she had given her things. She just knew some signs about the office. The address was not mentioned completely. We had to ask many people for the address. Finally, after some walks we found that place and Elham took her things back.

In the book exhibition, it is really difficult to find somewhere to sit and take rest. People who have visited Tehran International Book Exhibition know what I am saying. Elham worried about finding a proper place to sit and take rest. She was tired. She disliked walking among that heavy traffic of people. I found a very nice place; quiet, nice and cool, in the shade of trees. I also found a useless banner and laid it on the ground among tress. Elham was amazed when I said; "Now, sit on it and enjoy taking rest!" She couldn't believe what she saw!

..... will be continued.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

So let me ask you a question which age do you think is suitable for getting married?

Hi dear Setareh,

How are you? I hope you are great and enjoying every second of your life. Thank you very much for introducing some nice topics and expressing your idea about them.

I totally agree with you. Marriage is sacred and it has got a very meaningful philosophy. Right women and men inevitably will get married; because it is one of the most important stages of the life. As God has said in the holy Koran, marriage brings us many positive things. For example, marriage gives people calmness and peace of mind.

If we think about the main philosophy of marriage, we will find out that it is for keeping the generations going. Surely, marriage has got many positive effects on our spirit and body. Although, it provide us with some pleasure, relief, comfort, calmness, peace of mind, etc., these are not its main goal. Marriage is like planting seeds in order to get wheat as food for human beings. However, other useful things will be automatically produced as food for animals.

After finding out the main mission of marriage, we must think about the qualities that spouses should have got in order to fulfill that main mission! Obviously, boys and girls should reach puberty. Their physical bodies and spirits must be ready for getting married. In other words, they must be mentally, spiritually and physically grown!

How can a girl or a boy bring calmness while s/he is not qualified with that ability?

With regards to proper age for girls to get married; I personally think in Iran the majority of girls are physically, mentally and spiritually ready for marriage at age 18! It may differ from person to person, or from origin to origin, and from culture to culture! However, the distribution curve is Gaussian centered at 18 years old. This is my opinion!

I hope to read more from you.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi dear Amal,

How are you? How is your life? How is everything with you? I hope you are fine and everything is going well.

Thank you very much for following us. That's very kind of you. You are always in my thoughts. Your place is special in my heart.

I was naughty in the book exhibition, but not as naughty as I am in the thread and when chatting with friends.

We remembered your name and we wished you had been with us at that moment. It could have been wonderful.

I hope to read more from you. What do you do? How do you spend your free time? Walking with your friends on the streets in Damascus? I hope you are enjoying your life.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Mohsen,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Where are you? I've missed you. Please drop something in the thread and let us enjoy reading your posts, full of new and interesting things.

Hope to hear from you soon.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Hurieh,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Where are you? I've missed you. Please drop something in the thread and let us enjoy reading your posts, full of new and interesting things.

Hope to hear from you soon.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Andrew the great,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Where are you? I've missed you. Please drop something in the thread and let us enjoy reading your posts, full of new and interesting things. What do you do these days? What are you busy with? Please don't lose the contact with the thread and your old friends.

Hope to hear from you soon.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

[behnam]

Hi Setayesh,

How are you? I hope you are great. How was your trip to Kish? I hope you have fully enjoyed it .

Dear Setayesh, I am waiting to read your report about the meeting in the book exhibition and the trip to Kish. Please write about your new experiences.

I am looking forwards to hearing from you as soon as possible.

All the best,
Behnam, 2 May, 2015

[Kamelia]

How are youuuu? Oh-My-God!Do I so envy you right now right here so bad or what? So you actually met at the book fair and did not care to tell poor Kami? I was there from 22nd to 24th and at 24th I went to wander in the isles alone and I am just begging God SO BADLY that it was not on this day that you met because I will be ghahr with you for a long time and that's a fact

Just kidding! How are you? what did you buy? I was so excited reading through all your beautiful posts about it that I even have got my first initiating smile on! Your posts were so wonderfully in details and so alive that I felt I was actually there spending the time with you. Oh and I am so grateful for you remembering me and writing my name on the piece of paper. I guess I'll save the picture as a little token

So happy you finally got together, and so proud of having hearty lovely friends as you. Wish you the best.

Love,

Kamelia

[setayesh]

Hi All DEAR FRIENDS!

How areeeee you guysss? Oh my goodness! What wonderful detailed posts you have written about our fantastic meeting at Tehran international book exhibition! I think Behnam is going to write more about it,since he has not narrated how difficult he found dear Setayesh* in the dense of crowd there!

Just God knows how difficult I could managed to happen this meeting! It was a real hard job to convince dearest Elham to come Tehran. I was so eager to meet her after more than 6 years virtual friendship. Although we had the chance to make phone call time to time but, all you know, nothing is better than meeting your dears face-to-face! It was not the only reason that made me ask dear Elham and Behnam to come there. Perhaps even dear Behnam and Elham don’t know how much it was pleasant for me to meet them both in a same place and at a same time! having a meeting with these two dearest friends together was one of my sweet dreams which beautifully came true!

Although I was so enthusiastic to meet them, convincing Elham to join us was somehow risky, because she must have a journey from another city to Tehran. You cannot imagine how many sms I sent her to make sure, if she is healthy and hasn’t got any problem in coming here.

From the first moment of that Thursday I was very excited but unfortunately I had to wait till noon at work. I left my work place at 1:30. It just took 6 minute to reach to the exhibition coz it was so near to my office. But, it took a long time to find Eli and Behnam there. Dear Behnam did me great favor and walked a long distance to find me and we walked to the place where Behnam had settled down dear Elham there.

Only and only God knows how sweet was meeting my dearest Elham. We hugged each other. Exchanged some kisses. Elham has got a very friendly face. Her face talks to you without any words. She can convey her positive energy via her smile only. All those friends who had the chance of talking to her know, I’m sure you all prove, how beautiful her voice is. Believe me, her face is twice beautiful, sincere and kind! She was 100 percent that Elham who were in my mind all those 6 years! It was really a wonderful day, we drank, ate ,wrote and exchanged some gifts. In the end after saying goodbye to dear Behnam I accompanied dearest Elham to the place where she met her sister and cousin.they were both very lovely and sweetheart girls. We walked to the exit door together and talked. They took a taxi and said goodbye to me .we waved hands with the best wishes for each other…

Elham the dearest(this is the title that I have chosen for you!), I want to thank you for accepting my invitation and coming to Tehran. I have put that beautiful wooden candle stand which you gifted to me near to my bed.so every day I see it and think about you. Sometimes I think a part of your soul is flying through its holes and windows. I hope to see you and your family once again.

Dear professor Behnam, thank you a million times! Thanks for everything, for that nice scare you gifted us , for the lunch you bought for us and more important than all thanks for coming and spending your valuable time with us.

I hope God support you both in every single moment of life

All the best,
Setayesh

(Setayesh*= Setareh=Seti)

[setayesh]

Dear elham will write another post to you and tell you all about my trip to kish as soon as possible

[LanguageBox]

Yes, I understand. I hope you are not touchy because I didn't mean to. Indeed, writing is improved ... with writing. The thing is that I didn't find it focused. It's just a general discussion in English where people can practice their writing skills but there is no learning process. I mean learning something like how to write a letter for example, how to structure your writing, how to link your thoughts in English and such things. Anyway, I am glad to make a contact with you guys. I will put my thoughts here from time to time ;)

Actually, I started writing on WWW.English-at-home.com in 2007. From 2007 until now I've been writing English almost regularly; continuously. In 2012 we decided to leave other sites and to write on this power site.

[Hurieh]

Hi Hurieh,
It is pleasure to read your post and knew that you are in health , just your busy schedule is the reason of your absence .

Hi dear Mohsen,
How are you? It’s a long time you haven’t shown up. I hope you’re enjoying your time. It’s really nice of you.

I don’t know if you like the Baghlava and Pashmak ( the two famous confectionaries in Yazd) ,

To tell the truth, I’m not into souvenirs of Yazd. They are so sweet and may cause some issues such as dental problems. To top it off, the rate of diabetes is also considerably high in this city. Some experts attribute this issue to sweet souvenirs of Yazd. However, Diabetes isn’t a sweet disease at all. We have patients with this problem in every unit. Diabetes affects nearly all systems in humans’ body such as epithelial and skin, cardiovascular, renal, visual, and neural system; and subsequently, deteriorates prognosis of their disease. About everyone knows about this unpleasant disease and it’s negative effects on body system. I’m afraid of getting diabetes since some close relatives of ours are suffering from that .Hopefully, I don’t have it in my own family but I have to be careful. Oh…Poor Mohsen…the next time you’ll eat our souvenirs you won’t have good feelings I guess…. Smiling…. Don’t panic and enjoy it happily. I’m too conservative.

As usual I went to park at morning with a group of my family . this my routine job on Fridays.

WOW…what a nice and healthy habit. Good for you and the guys who accompany you. I’m also interested in taking up a fitness activity like mount climbing, jogging or walking in the parks, but these days it’s not possible for me. Anyway, last weekend, some relatives of us insisted on visiting the park in our vicinity to make their only small kid enjoy playing there. It was after midnight, and the park was quiet until we reached there. We enjoyed playing with the tools which were devised for small kids’ playing, and forgot for which purpose we were there. Poor that kid!!! He was totally forgotten. Anyway, sometimes awakening our inner child and playing like kids are necessary. I’ve been considering doing that again every once in a while. By the way, do you play like kids in parks??? If not, I do recommend it. Just give it a try. Winking.
Hope to have you here so soon.

Regards,
Hurieh
May 25th, 2015

[Hurieh]

Hi Hurieh,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Where are you? I've missed you. Please drop something in the thread and let us enjoy reading your posts, full of new and interesting things.

Hope to hear from you soon.

All the best,
Behnam, 22 May, 2015

Dear Behnam,

How are you? How do you do? Thanks for caring.

It’s really enjoyable to read about your meeting with some friends of ours in International Book Fair. Sounds like you had great time and really enjoyed it. In my opinion, you should have planned your meeting somewhere else like Shah Abdol Azim Shrine. Then you would be able to do sightseeing (Siahat) and pilgrimage (Ziarat) at the same time…winking and smiling at the same time…It would also be nice to be remembered there... Just kidding.

Thanks for remembering us there. I want to take this excuse to convey my regards to our dear friends Elham and Setayesh. It was such a long time we were deprived from reading your nice words. You were greatly missed. I hope you’re enjoying your moments, and will write more here.

One more thing… The idea of writing names on the paper was so innovative and amazing and the handwriting which belongs to dear Behnam was eye catching. I really wonder whose idea it was. Anyway, It was so creative. Although the idea seems a bit girlish I won’t dare guess whose idea it was. Winking…

Dear Behnam, I’m following the posts of yours and our friends and enjoying reading them. They're informative too. These days I have to cut back my time spending on the net. I’ve taken a step further and analyzed my data. Now I have to put my pen on the paper and start writing. Wish me luck please. Meanwhile, I wish long lasting happiness and joyfulness for you three and the rest of our friends.

Regards,
Hurieh
May 25th, 2015

P.S. It's nice to see our friend's paw here. Do you know to whom I'm pointing? Accept my humble regards dear Andrew. We're waiting for your posts and riddles eagerly.

[Hurieh]

Dear friends,

Last week something happened to me that was a real eye opener. I want to save it right here forever as a reminder. An unforgettable lesson actually !!!!

There’s an English professor in our university who has an electronic magazine. She asks learners who are interested in English to write things for her magazine. If she finds them interesting or informative, she will publish them; otherwise perish. I sometimes write something for that magazine and asks them to put my e-mail address at the end to receive readers’ feedbacks.
My last text was a long article about life, it’s philosophy, and so on. The feedbacks are rare and usually casual. Last week, I received an e-mail from someone who claimed he’s an English teacher and translator. He had written his idea about life, and shared his ID with me to join him. Although I wasn’t in the mood of English at that moment, but I couldn’t resist the temptation of replying his e-mail. Immediately and without thinking, I wrote a letter and emphasized on my point of view in a childish and poor way. Anyway, very soon I received an e-mail from him that said he had just shared his own idea nothing more…hehehehehe…
He had put his words in a polite way. I’m still ashamed of my childish reaction towards my fair- minded critic. Why do we usually doubt people’s intentions? Why have we habituated to judge people based on our personal limited knowledge?

His reaction taught me many worthwhile lessons. I have to think twice before doing something even on the net. Yeah… I have to keep in mind that this is not “madine-ye-fazele” or “arman shahr”. Our feet are on earth not heaven. It’s quite selfish of us to expect people to change in accordance with our wishes and interests, and in most situations impossible.
Why do we want to convince people rather than to be convinced most of the time??? My finger is pointing to myself not anyone else.

One more lesson! Every debate should usually have a sacrifice, otherwise it will turn into a sever explosion. Since, in most of circumstances both sides try to show their superiority and hardly give up. Finally, the teacher of my story easily won the discussion for the reason of his LENIENCY.

I take this excuse to ask pardon from all of my friends here in case they were also victims of my arrogance... I hope to reform my weaknesses. I think I’d better stop writing about morality for a while. Instead, I’ll switch to writing scientific articles in my own specific field. It’s much better I guess….LOL

Regards,
Hurieh
May 25th, 2015

P.S. You can read e-mails exchanged between us on the next posts.

[Hurieh]

Ms. X.X,

I’m…., an English teacher and translator. I’m privileged to meet you. I just read your long article about “Life” on …… magazine. It was great; However, as far as I’m concerned, life is short and so complicated at the same time. There are so many directions around us each calling us to take them. We are wondering which way to take. We need a help or something like a right attitude about life. Sometimes I feel a simple word, advice or even an image, no matter where it comes from, may change my whole life.

I would be glad if you joined me on LinkedIn with this ID: …………

With regards,

X.Y

Hi Mr. X.Y,

It's my pleasure to get to know you here as an English expert. You've got a variety of skills and experiences in English according to your profile which are truly applaudable. Good for you indeed.

By the way, you've been holding an interesting point of view regarding life and it's philosophy. Are they your own statements??? Anyway, I put value on your opinion, and found it a good excuse to write something, since I’m a big talker and interested in raising controversial issues. It’s said: “discussion and doubt are essential for our progress.”

In my opinion, life isn't that complicated you imagine. A reason that may draw us into such wandering situation may be the lack of in-depth understanding from ourselves or actually self-awareness. We are not born to be tortured in this world. We are living to enjoy, grow up, win, lose, learn, do our responsibility towards this world, and then leave it. Have you noticed that some people who have an eye for detail may turn out to be much more successful in their lives? They think differently and exactly know what they’re supposed to do during their lifelong. They can see things that others don’t care about. In other words, they are able to find opportunities for their taking steps by having such precise skills.

Have you heard of EQ? I’m sure you heard. It doesn’t necessarily demand having high IQ for our achievements. Sometimes, an average person with high EQ can appear more successful than a genius. That implies the fact that how much being aware of ourselves and getting the signals we’ve been receiving around ourselves matter. I’m not opposing the point that getting advice from others is unacceptable. Getting advice can come helpful, but only if we know ourselves and our interests. Otherwise, it can also be kind of wandering hopelessly among many different ideas. To put it in blunt form, being able to decode the signals we’ve been receiving from others along with distinguishing the best one suits our interests may be keys to success. However, we always have exception too. Winking.

Meanwhile, It’s said the quality of life is much more important than it’s quantity. I put a strong faith on this idea. I personally feel life is short whenever I procrastinate tasks, and feel I’m not spending my time properly. We won’t feel life is short when we’ve got lots of achievements from the past. Therefore, there will be no regret in future whether we’ve wasted our time or not. Let’s accept this fact that each of us has a responsibility towards their lives that should be addressed, and no one can properly detect it except ourselves.

By the way, I just shared my personal idea as a student who is interested in writing.

Sincere best wishes,
X.X. May 20th, 2015

[Hurieh]

Hello Ms. X.X,

First of all, I should express my admiration for your great long speech and Blah.Blah.Blah.Blah...............................................................................................................................................................................................................Blah!

The words I wrote to you are mine and I believe in the philosophy behind that. Let me tell you that a Dutch man wrote a message to me and told me that he had the same paragraph in the preface of one of his books! I had to swear at God that it was mine!
I say life is short maybe because of what I am facing nowadays, otherwise sometimes I feel life is the longest and the most boring thing on earth. This new year holidays, my family and I visited Ghasr prison in Tehran that has become a museum-garden now. We visited the dark and so suffocating cells and remembered the ones who had spent long years there. How could I say life is short when they were counting every minute of all those long years? But they themselves say that life is too short when they were released finally and had a chance of, some year later, visiting the old prison.
In the other part of that paragraph, I had indicated that someone or something may change my whole life. This is what I also believe in.
I am not as expert as you in raising controversial issues so I stop here while I like to know more about you and if I can do anything for you.

With regards
X.Y

Mr. X.Y,

My gratitude to you for all of your fascinating words attributed to me, even if they sound more like compliments and exaggeration. Winking.

Your plain text caught my attention at first, and persuaded me to write that letter to you. You write beautifully and clearly. I’m glad to hear those belong to you. By the way, you had replied my somewhat-rude letter pretty nice and with respectful manner which obviously shows your great nobility.

Yeah…I believe what you said about that Dutch man. Your statements also reminded me of a book that contains the same thoughts but with different words and in Persain. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the book. I feel like sharing an excerpt from the book with you right here. Here goes:

داستان غریبی است ! زندگی چون کلاف سردرگم ، ما را چون گردش دور یک میدان، به دور خود می چرخاند و در پایان هر روز احساس می کنیم که بعد از این همه تلاش؛ سر جای اولمان ایستاده ایم...

You are definitely right. There are some periods of time in everyone’s life that may cause such feelings towards the life. In such situations, I personally mumble these words;

بهر من بدتر از این روزی نیست / زندگی آش دهن سوزی نیست

However, I usually have the same idea towards the life that I mentioned before. In addition, I’d also like to read others' experiences. Writing and reading make us better people and better citizens. I’m still too inexperienced. On the other hand, learning process never ends. Anyway, I appreciate you and your time dedicated to writing to me. By the way, I can’t follow you on your page since I’m not an active member on my LinkedIn.

It’s a quarter past 23. Gotta go.

Sincere gratitude
X.X, May 21st/ 2015

P.S. Some praise-filled sentences are removed from the first paragraph of his e-mail to ensure readers that i didn't put them intentionally to brag.

[Hurieh]

Hi Ms. X.X

Thank You for the reply and Blah. Blah. Blah. .........................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Blah.

You have written about my writing style and that I write clearly and beautifully. I can't believe this one because this is my main drawback and sometimes I have come to conclude that I won't learn English and I won't be able to write even a clear and beautiful sentence in my whole life! They have been personal questions of mine why I am not a clear person and I can't tell others what I mean and how I can make others understood about my intentions.

Some years ago, I began to draw on ordinary papers by simple pens. it was so joyful but soon I realized that I wasn't able provide a perfect image at the end and they always remained incomplete!
I have begun to read a book on who intellectuals actually are and what their roles are in the society. Although I found this book among the old books I had, it showed it was my concern why I wasn't clear enough and that kind of personality is always seen in my words!

Anyway, I wish you the best wherever you are.

Have a good Friday

P.S. Some praise-filled sentences are removed from the first paragraph of his e-mail to ensure readers that i didn't put them intentionally to brag.