The Harlem News

People of Iran Are Individualistic
But Also Are Friendly, Hospitable

By BURTON BOSCH
U.S. DELEGATE TO Iran

Iran is a country of walls. The more one travels in the country, the more evident this becomes.

Villages are often completely surrounded by mud walls, and certainly every house in the village is enclosed by a wall.

These walls are carried into the cities too. Tehran is perhaps the most drab appearing city that I've yet encountered. And that is not to say that there are not many palaces of beauty there, but rather that those places are all hidden by these walls.

Gardens Are Beautiful

I think that nowhere are flowers and shrubs more beautiful than in a Persian garden but they can be appreciated only after you gain access to them through a wall.

The presence of the wall stresses the insecurity that grips these people.

And it is not just the peasant who feels this insecurity: for well he might, since it is very likely that he doesn't know where the next meal is coming from for him and his family.

But this insecurity affects all classes up through the very rich lords, and makes the Iranian people as a whole afraid of a change. They have no faith in the future, and so progressive improvement is a slow process.

Are Individualistic

I think these walls also tend to bring out another trait of the Persians, and that is their intense individualism. Their gardens are things of beauty but are to be en-

The sports that are emphasised in Iran are not the team sports of America - baseball, football, or basketball - but are individualistic ones - boxing, wrestling, weight-lifting, and horsemanship.

Personal recognition is highly valued (as it is everywhere), but the spirit of cooperation is foreign to their culture and once again progress is impeded by that lack.

Are Hospitable, Friendly

However, for all their individualistic tendencies, the Iranians are the most hospitable and friendly people that I have ever met. Even Montanans could take lessons from an Iranian host.

They enjoy exchanging pleasantries, and many minutes will be spent at the beginning of a visit or conversation in wishing one good health and good fortune. This hospitality is carried over into the business life and requires a shop keeper to maintain one person to run between the shop and the tea house to bring a drink for customers as they inspect merchandise.

There is no business transaction in Iran comparable to the one where an American (in a hurry as usual) rushes into a store, tells the clerk what he wants, pays for it, and dashes off again; all in the matter of a few minutes.

Disregard for Time

This hospitality has given rise to the disregard which the people in Iran have for schedules, for meeting times, and for that matter, for time in general. Their way of life

is slow and easy-going. They take their daily siesta from noon until about 3:30 p.m., and believe me, ALL work ceases.

Shopkeepers pull their blinds or fasten the steel shutters in front of the stores. Laborers lay along the shady side of the building they are constructing; even some Americans catch the proverbial "40 winks."

However, the people are not lazy!! Rather, they have accepted the fact that the sun is brightest and hottest immediately following the noon hour, and that there will be tomorrow in which to do that which was not accomplished today.