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Payam Teens,
Write in. Right on!
The Wandering Dervish’s anti-establishment stance on life in our March 2009 issue was met with a lovely note of thanks by a young dervish-ette, much like herself. Afarin asked Sandy to write a short piece on her experiences as a Persian teen in Orange County (right column).
Payam Ashena has decided to take this a step further and give the Persian teens in our community a forum in which to voice their joys, frustrations, fears, and whatever else may be on their minds.
Please write in to tell us about your experiences, as it relates to being Persian or as un-Persian as you may feel. Tell your friends to write in too, at:
payammag@ashena.com
FML?
Another day at school, another night of work, another couple hours of sleep. So is the (sadly, not overly simplified) daily life of countless teens in orange county, growing up in an extremely competitive environment and climbing over other people’s sleep-deprived heads to get ahead in life. It all has a purpose, after all. We must work, read, and study until 2:00 a.m. everyday in order to make something of ourselves in the future.
As my aunt says to me, “Agar doctor nabashi, adame vaghei nisti.” Hence, if we don’t do what we are told and fall short of keeping up with all the other over-achievers, we will ultimately fail to contribute to society as adults.
Nevertheless, the road to “success” comes with a price. One’s soul will slowly deteriorate in the process, as I have felt mine do during these past three years spent in the monotonous clutches of High School. Do straight A’s mean that I’m truly smart, or is my mindless slave work a façade of intelligence used as a trick in order to get a respectable university to accept me? Where am I even trying to go in life? Seeing as I’m Persian, I must clearly be aiming toward becoming a doctor or lawyer, so that I’ll have something to show of myself when relatives come to visit me. Why, then, do I want to pursue the arts, the least lucrative of all fields?
I feel as though wanting to pursue something besides “shoghle pordaramad” is a death sentence, and the family members’ faces that I feel comfortable enough to tell this to immediately draw to a blank, as they have just been informed that my destitute future is deviously awaiting me…
- Sandy Sepasi
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