Students’ friendly chat- Written by Nader Musavi- 25 August 2019

Today after a while I went to school, grade-advancing classes, English and summer classes were being held. There was filled with excitement. As I entered through the door, I noticed a couple of students that were sitting together and were busy talking. I stood there and watched them. The energy and the sound of their chatter and laughter took me back to the good days of my own school days, to Bandar-e-Abbas and the town of Shoghu in the hours before school exams. We would sit together in groups regardless of our differences and each of us would talk about something useful about the subject or ask a question or tell the group about something that they thought would probably be in the exam. If there ever was a leaked question, or we were sure that’s going to be in the exam we would heroically tell the others. For me, those hours were the sweetest moments of school. I was very good at my lessons and others would ask my opinion to make sure their answer was correct. No one cared about where I’m from or that my Farsi accent is Khamali. We were all close friends and full of love for each other.

Today when I entered through the schools yard door, I watched these kids sitting around and arguing about meaning of words and I could hear the laughter from their friends mispronunciation or wrong answers. I saw that Habib is Pashtun, Zarif is Tajik another Ozbek and the other two Hazareh. They were a mix of Sunni and Shia who came from different cities. However, these kids don’t care about any of these differences or even think about them. They see their friends and chat and laugh and enjoy their time with each other. It’s in children’s nature to be filled with kindness, happiness and friendship but what slowly takes over this innocence is the do and don’ts of us the adults. In the name of religion, nationality, race or ethnicity we make hateful people out of them which results in the world we are living in now. Nevertheless, I’m happy that in all these years I’ve worked hard to prevent this destructive thoughts to enter our school. I have put all my efforts so that these kids learn friendship and peace with themselves and others in a happy and peaceful place despite the shortcomings.

Dear children, may your friendships last long and the sound of your happiness become louder!😀♥️