thankful

As I re-adjust to school after a much-needed Thanksgiving break, I’ve been reflecting on the holiday and the time I spent with my family and friends. At Thanksgiving this year, my entire family gathered at our shared log cabin deep in the woods of Maine. It was wholesome, intimate, and a perfect moment to bond with loved ones. At dinner, my grandfather challenged us to think deeply about what we are thankful for this year. It unfolded a conversation that I will never forget. 

Twenty of us sat around the dinner table. We shared our gratitude for the people who build us up in our lives, the food on the table, and our ability to live in the way we choose. We spoke about the constant state of the world and how privileged we are to be in the United States. All twenty of us agreed how unbelievably lucky we were to be together and celebrate freely. This was my 22nd Thanksgiving with family. A holiday I took for granted. Something I will never take for granted again. 

The ability to live life freely is a life I have known and lived since the day I was born. Included in this privilege is that I have always had access to attend school and get an education. At my family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year, six college students, including myself, sat around the dinner table. All six of us expressed how thankful we are for the opportunity to go to college and get a degree of our choice. 

I had never really taken the time to step back and ponder how truly fortunate I am to have the opportunity to learn. The more I think about it, my brain cycles from excitement to appreciation, then to guilt. I’ve been a student for nearly my entire life. There are only 1.5 years of my existence where I wasn’t in a structured, community-based education program. I get to literally take a class that focuses on bettering the world from a feminist perspective. My biggest worry during the week is getting to class on time in the zoo of Harrisonburg traffic. For school girls like me in Iran right now, if they promote the need for equality and freedom of women’s rights in their classrooms, their lives are in literal danger.

Currently, in Iran, a female revolution has been ignited. The women are fighting the government for minimal human rights. Over the past eight weeks, Iranian women and young girls of all ages have been leading mass protests of resistance against the Islamic Republic, which is an extreme governmental force and holds the women of Iran as second-class citizens. For example, the women of Iran are expected to cover their hair with a hijab. They are held to harsh rules regarding their physical appearance. Iranian women want the simple right to wear their hair as they please, something I do every day. Guilt.

The nationwide protests evolved after Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two-year-old woman, passed away in police custody after being arrested by “morality police” for “violating” the Islamic dress code for women. Ever since Mahsa Amini’s death, “Iran has erupted like a volcano in protest over her death” (Source). I’m a 22-year-old woman. More guilt. 

In particular, the school girls of Iran have been risking their lives protesting in the streets and at schools following Mahsa Amini’s death. They have been waving and burning their head coverings through bravery and the intent to make a societal difference. Like all women in Iran, girls in school are facing terror, too. Student Nika Shakarami (a 16-year-old girl) burned her hijab and went missing. The government claims she had tragically fallen to her death, just like the stories of other young girls that had gone missing after protests. According to Human Rights Watch, 28 children have died since the birth of the protests and movement. I have no words. 

Like my grandfather, I challenge you to deeply think about what you’re thankful for. Think about what you have that others do not. Things that may seem simple like education or how you chose to wear your hair. Don’t take the things you’re grateful for in life for granted. I challenge you to think about it every day. Not only on Thanksgiving. 

If you would like to support the protestors in Iran, click here.