"My daughter
will get a
good husband"
"A good job"
"I would like my grandmother to come back to life"
"I would like to be sure
I am going to heaven"
"This question is from the devil"
"There will not be any more wars in the world"
"I want to have
assurance that my sins will be forgiven"
Coming – a series of booklets addressing the most common yearnings that were expressed.
Presenting – the first in the series is Yearning for Peace. It addresses exactly that, done in story form, set in Beirut, Lebanon. One of four friends who for years have been playing backgammon, drinking Turkish coffee, smoking hookas and solving the world’s problems, begins with, “You won’t believe the dream I had last night.”
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About the Author
Ethnic Backbround: Assyrian. This means I have a feel for being a minority and what that implies. We have not had our own country since 612 BC. Because of his minority status, my father was a refugee three times in northwestern Iran in the early part of the twentieth century. He used to brag about graduating from Junior High school at age 24!
Nationality by birth: Iranian. During the first nine years of my life, I grew up in a nation that was 98 percent Muslim, mostly Shiite, and home to other minorities like Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Zoroastrians, and Jews. I’ve been multicultural as long as I can remember.
Education: My early education took place in Iran and India. There I enjoyed delicious tea, playing lots of cricket, soccer, and hockey, acting in Shakespearean plays, and enduring some corporal punishment. My college education took place in the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry. I soon decided I did not want to be a husband to animals! I also earned degrees in Physical Education in India and Theology in Lebanon.
Family: I am privileged to have a wife who was raised in Africa and daughters who grew up in the Middle East before we finally all settled in the United States.
Religion: I was raised in a Christian home with exposure to Islam while in Iran and Hinduism and Buddhism in India.
Lifetime Investment: I have spent the past 52 years mentoring high school and university students from many parts of the world and enjoyed relating to their parents and family members.