and Iran so far away…

I read a really interesting article in the paper this weekend about Iranian dissident Ahmad Batebi who just survived a harrowing escape from Iran, through Iraq, and finally made it the US.  That’s him on the cover of the Economist after a peaceful student protest back in the late nineties was met with violence by the Iranian government… he spent 8 years in jail, in and out of solitary confinement and was tortured in horrible ways.  He is one of the brave few that are willing to fight for change in an incredibly oppressive government.  It is amazing to me how blithely we go on about our lives here in the land of the free without thinking much about how hard it is everywhere else.  Trips to places like Cuba are good reminders for me, but the truth is most of the time I take life here for granted.  (not that Cuba even comes close to what Iran is like, but you catch my drift.)

On a lighter note, anytime I read news about Iran I think about the SNL short that Andy Samberg did last year… watch it here if you haven’t (or haven’t in a while).  Hilarious.