Yesterday was my day off. My daughter had just finished university examinations and my son too was in a good mood to accompany us (he rarely voluntarily goes shopping with us). We had planned to buy our lunch outside thus my wife did not have to worry about cooking as well. All in all we had started a good day, we thought!
Before leaving the house I reminded my daughter not to wear anything that causes trouble regarding disciplinary forces' maneuver over Hejab or Islamic costume concerns. Doing so she reviewed all her old and new cloths and she even did not care much about fashion. She wore just a set of plain black pants, dress and a yellow scarf. Even so, right after entering the Hyper star Mall, two women disciplinary forces (it is how the police is named after Islamic revolution) wearing a dark veil (Chador) stopped us and questioned my daughter. While touching her manteau one of them said that it was short and why the sleeves were folded. I was carefully listening so for the next time we observe them too, although I really felt we were offended by this but had no other choice except to be obedient. Complying with a Persian poem:
In the hands of a bloodthirsty lion
What preference remains but submission?
Listening carefully to what they were saying, their man colleague a bit farther called on me that I should stay away. I replied, "This is my family". He repeated "Get distance". This time I shouted at him, "But I am listening to avoid such incident for next time". In seconds I found myself surrounded by five or six uniformed disciplinary officers. They were warning me to calm down while two of them continuously pushed me with one hand. I told the two, one by one "stop pushing me". One of them said in a rude tone, "Why you got mad?" I reminded him that he should be polite. Then he said, "You are impolite". We were interrupted by my wife's yelling at them. She was screaming while shaking severely. Later she told me that they had threatened to detain our daughter. She wailed, "My husband has been in battle field and you are doing this to him while you are under air-conditioned." One of them around 30 years old replied, "I was there too". I thought he most have been there for elementary school since the war ended when he was still a child. There were people stopping and watching our confrontation but they were instructed by uniformed police to not gather round. Subsequently we were guided out of the occurrence's site and the flow of people continued toward the stairs heading to the mall. I looked back and told them, "This is not the right way to govern the country." We almost were out in the parking lot that my daughter went back and told the two disciplinary women that," Are you Iranians? To God I swear you are not Iranians". This time I was really afraid for the first time and was sure that we will be taken to custody. But surprisingly nothing happened. I think they were not bothered by calling them Aliens. In the parking I found out the one who managed bringing us out of the lobby into Parking area was a high ranking officer, he said that they are forced to do this although do not believe in what they do. He had sympathetic approach and I thought he had to play the good man there. I told him they (the disciplinary forces there) were not trained enough. They should be disciplined. They were really behaving more like thugs than Police forces.
In the whole event my son was quiet. First I was happy for this. Obviously I did not want him to get in trouble. But then I noticed how well the Islamic republic's strategies had been successful in schools and other aspects of life making him and youth like him obedient and harmless citizen for a totalitarian system.
Who knows? He may respond against a foreign assault the same, similar to how the Iranian people and Army behaved during Sassanid period against the Arab invasion.
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