Nowruz 2026
It was supposed to be two weeks of Persian New Year celebration, but things took a different turn with the US-Israel-Iran war, and a funeral that I had to attend.
The day was sad, but not all of it was sad. It forced everyone who attended to take a pause, to slow down, and reflect on all the people who have come and gone as we walked past the graves that looked like stepping stones from far away, embedded in a field covered with grass. The sun was out. A welcomed breeze swayed its way through. The smell of fresh dirt lingered in the air.
It was a reminder of our limited time. No one has control over when they are born, and when they pass away. In fact, no one has control over anything. You can plan, but plans don't pan out. Maybe we live for the unpredictability of life. Perhaps if we knew exactly how our lives would unfold, we would go mad, and not want to live. But then again, if we knew exactly how our lives would unfold right from the start, we would make different choices, and our destinies would become completely different.
Sometimes, I equate life to a scene in Harry Potter when Ron must play the chess game whether or not he likes it, until he gets an outcome of life or death. But he hangs on tight because he chooses to live. In life, some people don't choose to live. There is a deep moral deficit in our world that pushes humanity to question the purpose of life. But there are those who say that you only see what you focus on. And that there is so much more to what we perceive.
My thoughts turn back to the funeral. The people buried there had similar cares as the rest of us when they were alive. And all the things that they worried about, all the things that kept them awake at night, none of it mattered. One day they were here, and the next, they were gone. As I stand toward the back next to my brother, he points out the grave of a 25-year-old girl. We both shake our heads.
I watch a casket lowering device pour dirt over the coffin as I think about the kindhearted person buried beneath it. It's hard to find many kindhearted people like her nowadays. The day she passed on, she was happy, looking forward to go out with us to celebrate Nowruz. And the next minute, she had a heart attack and died.
I realize that there is more to what we perceive. Our bodies are shells that we shed as we evolve to I don't know what. And it's the memories that stay behind in the minds of those who know us that keep us alive until one day, they too will be gone. Life is complex, and this funeral brought up so many questions that still linger on my mind.
