After FOUR YEARS of negotiations, the remarkable treaty that has been worked out between the USA, Russia, China, Iran and our European allies — is being denounced by the latest Ayatollah.
Ayatollah Khameinei led a rally in which there were chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
We may make one solid conclusion: The Ayatollah is afraid of losing power.
The majority of Iranians — in spite of their public displays against America — want to be like Americans. That is, they want to be consumers the way we are capable of being. TV’s, air-conditioning, clothes…People were dancing in the streets when the treaty was announced. For them, the jubilation had nothing to do with peace or relief from nuclear proliferation — rather, it was about BUYING. The treaty meant the end of isolation from the economies of the world.
Yet the Ayatollah can not seem to be part of this compromise with “The Great Satan,” as he has long referred to America. And so he keeps up appearances, making anti-American and anti-Israel speeches.
With this continual cliché from the past, the top religious official in Iran shows he is afraid of losing power. He has to keep up the front of hatred against Americans, though the government that he supposedly is the supreme ruler of, is going in the opposite direction, negotiating and compromising.
He is leaving the “dirty work” of progress for lesser mortals. He himself must remain pure in his hatred.
This leader has missed the true chance to lead. He has had a chance to lessen tensions, humanize enemies, promote a higher standard of living for the people of Iran…But he avoids all of this like sin.
It simply shows what lack of confidence he has that if he changes, if he adjusts his public stance, he will lose face, will lose standing among the people.
And so he continues the time-tested hard-line against the West.
Destruction and hatred are much easier than construction and respect. When the Nazis were bombing London, correspondent William Shirer remarked, “What a puny thing it is to destroy a city.”
“Puny” in that destroying is easier than building. You’ve got gravity and the law of entropy on your side. (Entropy is the law of physics that says a thing naturally moves to a lower level of energy. A bouncing ball doesn’t go higher — it goes lower. A building that has been shaken by a bomb moves naturally to a state of crumbling.)
In relationships as well, it is a puny thing to tear down. It is easy. Building, however, is difficult. Building requires time and virtue: patience, understanding, compassion…
The Ayatollah is leaving the hard work for government officials; for himself the easy stuff — the puny.
johnzingaro 