Here’s the thing.
If I were to try to enter this country now, the country I love, I would be barred. My family would’ve been stopped at the port of entry, detained, maybe arrested and deported. My law degree would never be. My American sweetheart? He would’ve married someone else (an endeavor doomed for failure, given the whole soul-mate thing he and I have going on). Our little angels would not exist. They would not exist. The American Dream. What would that be to me if I wasn’t here to live it?
What to do in times like these? When you feel your children’s very existence is considered a “threat” to be protected against because of where your birthplace sits on a map?
Empathy, I tell my kids. I remind them that empathy is understanding not justification. That fear breeds intolerance. To shake off the fear, we’ve got to pay attention to those on the other side of the issue. Want to advocate and educate? A necessary precondition is to talk.
Shermin with her twin sister, and collective dolls. Tehran, Iran - 1984