One year and two seconds

That is what people in Tehran have been whispering about—one year and two seconds as the exact interval separating the tsunami calamity from the Bam disaster. Is this to be our fate year after year? Are people simply to vanish much like the autumn leaves and perpetually to suffer so wretchedly?

By now, I guess, we all know where to send our individual contributions. What I like to see is maximum pressure brought to bear -- from whatever corner willing-- on the Iranian Regime in order to get a hefty percentage of the oil revenue surplus (around 8 billion) reallocated to help the victims of this disaster.

The promised $700,000 is truly shameful.

And so I start this New Year much like I ended the last one...with wishes for 12 months simply less soaked through with blood and tears. And of course, with immortal words from Homer’s Iliad:

« Ils demeurent la, tout aussi immobiles, avec le char splendide, la tête collée au sol. Des larmes brûlantes coulent de leurs yeux a terre,…. Est-ce donc pur que vous ayez votre part des douleurs avec les malheureux humains ? Rien n’est plu misérable que l’homme, entre tous les êtres qui respirent ce qui marchent sur la terre. »


For what it’s worth : Happy New Year.