A letter from a refugee from Iran

A Letter from Dr. Taybi

I received this letter from a refugee from Iran, before he died:

Rev. Joanna J. Seibert:

Dear Joanna (please call me Hoosh):

Thank you very much for very kind email. Your encouragement is most appreciated. I have accepted my illness and have no trouble dealing with the situation, thanks primarily to the support of my loving wife Alice and my children.

I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have been given by my mentors, friends and many times strangers in this country. Your kindness and reading your email brings me back to 1946 when I was a practicing pediatrician in the city of Hamedan in Iran. An American missionary had a small hospital and clinic headed by a young American, Dr. Frame. I told him one day I was planning to go to America and get more education. A son of a missionary, he spoke Farsi fluently. I told him I wanted to learn “American.” He taught me a few words in “American” [English].

When I left Iran, Mrs. Frame gave a letter to deliver to her parents, the Andersons. I arrived in New York City in December 1948, just before Christmas, and found my way in Manhattan to the Andersons’ apartment. Mr. Anderson took me to New York University, met with Professor Tobin, the Dean of Students, and enrolled me in English class. Andersons were missionaries having spent many years in South America’s jungles.

Their kindness did not end here. Many times they invited me to their home and I spent the 1949 Christmas at their home in New Jersey. The Frames moved back to USA and Dr. Frame had a practice in New York City. It was in 1964 when we gave a course in Pediatric Radiology at Indiana University Medical Center. I sent an invitation for Dr. Frame to come as my guest and attend the course. He was not able to come but in a nice note stated: “I see your ‘American’ has much improved,” referring to my use of American instead of English in 1948!! This type of kindness is unforgettable. To the end of my life I shall remember what they did for a man from another land and another culture. Two of the Anderson photographs from my album are attached.

I appreciate very much your family remembering meeting this old friend. Please extend my regards to them and I hope we meet again at another SPR gathering.

Hoosh

Harding: Change Again

“But we cannot change anyone else; we can change only ourselves and then usually only when the elements that are in need of reform have become conscious through their reflection in someone else.”

—M. Esther Harding.

Esther Harding explains so concisely how we change. We often recognize the parts of ourselves that need changing only as they are reflected in others. We say, “This is awful. I certainly do not want to be like that.” Then, through some unknown factor, perhaps God’s Grace, we realize that character defect, that sin, that failing is also in us. I often find myself not wanting to be around a certain person. That is sometimes a clue that he or she is carrying a trait that I do not recognize in myself; but seeing it in the other person, I am repulsed by it. The reverse side of this truth is that sometimes the people we most admire carry a gift we do not recognize in ourselves.

I also know from 12-step work how people change. They hit bottom. They become so overwhelmed by their condition, so “sick and tired” of how miserable their life is that they will do anything to change.

So what does all this have to do with our life in the Spirit? My experience is that it is indeed the Spirit, the Christ, the God within us that leads us to change, that whispers in our ear that those defects we acknowledge in others may also be in us—that a better life is possible for us. Those in 12-step programs call it a “moment of clarity.” I believe that moment of clarity is God speaking to us; and at that point we find ourselves in a position to listen. Finally we are able to hear with “the ear of our heart.”

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

The Art of Being

“In many Muslim cultures, when you want to ask others how they’re doing, you ask in Arabic, ‘how is your haal?’ In reality, we ask, ‘How is your heart doing at this very moment, at this breath?’Tell me you’re more than just a machine, checking off items from your to-do list. Put your hand on my arm, look me in the eye, and connect with me for one second. Tell me something about your heart, and awaken my heart.”

—Omid Safi in On Being with Krista Tippett (9/16/2017).

Omid Safi, Director of Duke University Islamic Studies Center, often writes a column on Thursdays for On Being. He is teaching us to be more intentional about relationships rather than simply making lists and completing tasks and assignments. My usual greeting to start a conversation is, “How are you doing?” The word doing implies that I am interested in what you are doing, while I actually want to know how you are being—how we can stay connected in this relationship and learn to live together as humans being rather than humans doing.

Maybe at some point I can say, “How is your heart?” for that sharing is what will make the most difference in allowing us to be in relationship. Being implies that we live in the present moment; and it is in the present moment that we connect. My experience is that making eye contact establishes us in the present. If I can hold your hand, we are making physical contact in the present moment.

Can we also transfer this understanding to our relationship to God? Instead of starting our prayers with our to-do list for God and expecting God to give us a to-do list as well, can we open prayers with “God, how is your heart? Show me your heart and open up my heart to you.”

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com