Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
war, I wished I'd been able to take my i lm crew to Baghdad before the war
to preserve images of a peacetime Iraq. As our leaders' rhetoric ramped up
the possibility of another war—with Iran—I didn't want to miss that chance
again. It's human nature to not want to know the people on the receiving
end of your “shock and awe”—but to dehumanize these people is wrong. I
wanted to put a human face on “collateral damage.”
It's not easy i nding a middle ground between the “Great Satan” and
the “Axis of Evil.” Some positions (such as President Ahmadinejad denying
the Holocaust) are just plain wrong. But I don't entirely agree with many
in my own government, either. Yes, there are evil people in Iran. Yes, the
rhetoric and policies of Iran's leaders can be objectionable. But there is so
much more to Iran than the negative image drummed into us by our media
and our government.
As a traveler, I've often found that the more a culture dif ers from my own, the more I
am struck by its essential humanity.
I left Iran impressed more by what we have in common than by our
dif erences. Most Iranians, like most Americans, simply want a good life
and a safe homeland for their loved ones. Just like my country, Iran has one
dominant ethnic group and religion that's struggling with issues of diver-
sity and change—liberal versus conservative, modern versus traditional,
secular versus religious. As in my own hometown, people of great faith are
