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It has Nothing to do with Being Persian!
By Kaveh Akbari
I always hear, “He is just another typical Persian guy. He tries so hard to be everything but him self”, or she is just “Another pretentious Persian girl, good by day, nasty by night”. We as young Iranians, as people from different cultural backgrounds, can be unconsciously incompetent in the area of moral identity.
The problem is that we distinguish, separate and/or confuse our values. Generally speaking, we separate the parameters of social acceptance of our current environment from a perceived outline of what is expected from us ethnically, as Iranians.
The perceived division between moral standards creates the opportunity to rebel against one set of values or another or a bit of both.
When as adolescents or young adults, we go astray; the usual internal or external presumption is that we are breaking free from “cultural’ restrictions.” However, in most of such cases, all we are doing is submitting to wider outlines of social and environmental acceptance. However, by doing so, we usually jeopardize something we can call "upright behavior," which is different to culture-bound values. We disregard good old self respect or positive stance– things which are supported by fundamental order.
There is a misconception of and a false relation between cultural boundaries and dignified boundaries which comes from a failure to grasp values correctly.
Ethical values should be consistent with and related to natural principles rather than being set according to what the society dictates. Further, values should not be taught as branches of a cultural tree. Otherwise, the moment a person rebels against their orthodox cultural boundaries, they also disregard necessary values with it. Parents play a big role in teaching these values correctly, but it is also our responsibility to learn and teach one another.
So basically, the problems many young adults from different cultural backgrounds face or are a witness to, include excessive social or party bound life styles, drugs and alcohol, and a loss of value for physical intimacy. An insistence on finding self worth through rebellion, material gain, affiliations or status, is actually a societal issue. It is a lack of cultural integration which leads to a confused moral identity. For some, this stands out in the shape of "typical Persian" because of certain cultural expectations we place on one another. When in actual fact, it is a failure in principled awareness. It has nothing to do with being Persian! We should look for and expect those particular values from any human being across the scale, from any background, not just Persians.
We must draw the best out of both cultures through which we are defined and combine them.
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