We All Had To Pay, But Not

Once Evil Is Individualized, Becoming Part Of Everyday Life, The Way Of Resisting It Also Becomes Individual. How Does The Soul Survive? Is The Essential Question. And The Response Is: Through Love And Imagination.

This Is A Good Time To Ask Apologists For The Islamic Regime, Who Degrades Islam? Who Imposes Stoning, Forced Marriage Of Underage Girls And Flogging For Not Wearing The Veil? Do Such Practices Represent Iran's Ancient History And Culture, Its Ethnic And Religious Diversity? Its Centuries Of Sensual And Subversive Poetry?

Only Curiosity About The Fate Of Others, The Ability To Put Ourselves In Their Shoes, And The Will To Enter Their World Through The Magic Of Imagination, Creates This Shock Of Recognition. Without This Empathy There Can Be No Genuine Dialogue, And We As Individuals And Nations Will Remain Isolated And Alien, Segregated And Fragmented.

You Need Imagination In Order To Imagine A Future That Doesn't Exist.

You Don't Read Gatsby, I Said, To Learn Whether Adultery Is Good Or Bad But To Learn About How Complicated Issues Such As Adultery And Fidelity And Marriage Are. A Great Novel Heightens Your Senses And Sensitivity To The Complexities Of Life And Of Individuals, And Prevents You From The Self-righteousness That Sees Morality In Fixed Formulas About Good And Evil.