Dear Mahmood Ahmadinejad;
With your permission, given by your attention, allow me to lead this discourse. Let me open my letter to you with a form of leadership you are familiar with; leadership by example. These words are simply text on an html page, but be aware, they represent much more. I am writing to you, not out of any hope for reconciliation between us, nor fear of your imperialist ideology. I am writing to you as a demonstration of spiritual and intellectual will, in honor of my nation’s first President, President George Washington.
My reasoning for engaging you is complex. The purpose of this letter is best explained by historical analogy. George Washington’s responsible abdication of power was a prerequisite for the democratic prosperity the United States enjoys today. His abdication guaranteed his immortality in the American mind. His singular abdication of supreme authority is the root cause of America’s Super Power Status today. With his faith in God, Law and Philosophy, Washington’s permanence will last for as long as the United States proudly bares its flag at home and abroad.
In remembrance of Washington – My words represent my thoughts and only my thoughts. In this letter and in this forum, I purposefully abdicate all symbols of my authority. In these words, I am standing up for what I as a lone citizen believe, nothing more. While my countrymen may find solace in my opinion, these are my words, not theirs. I do not profess to speak for them. Let me emphasize, that in America, Americans are free to make up their own minds about the differences between your nation and mine.
While it is clear that my nation is not planning a war with yours, my country is prepared to destroy yours. Why do you suppose that is Mr. Ahmadinejad? While you may assume, and therefore assert that the United States is an aggressor, you are dead wrong. You have made strides at convincing other world leaders of your opinion, and in so doing, only making you more wrong. I could list the transgressions demonstrating your guilt, as if I was an international lawyer, but this is neither the time nor the place. You know what your national policy must become in order to transcend all existing international punishments.
Where does your confidence come from? The evidence contradicting your rhetoric is as clear as the nose on your face. No one in America chants “Death to Iran”, but in Iran your countrymen chant “Death to America”. Officials within your regime consistently disorganize the brains of your nation’s youth by sending them into the streets to throw stones and the embassies of my nation’s allies and burn my country’s flag. Your behavior as an authority figure is hypocritical at best and criminal at worst. Is it not clear Mr. Ahmadinejad, why the people of these United States do not respond in kind?
If you’ve never considered why, please allow me to explain it to you. In the United States, American authority figures empower citizens to be the best they can be. They do so with the explicit demand that citizens not subtract from the spiritual, ethnic or racial value of their American neighbors. Think about that for a minute. Who are our neighbors here in America? As a land of immigrants, Americans hail from every corner of the planet. Yes Mr. Ahmadinejad, this means Americans have neighbors who were once your neighbors. Invariably, some of our neighbors here in America are the flesh and blood remnants of your so called Islamic Revolution. It is through their stories and your own bombastic assertions that I know you. Only concrete actions exercised immediately by you and your government can redirect the trajectory of our two countries.
Is it any wonder that our nations are at odds? The United States demonstrates peaceful coexistence everyday. Your ignorance of our history is hard to endure. To that end, do not mistake the American marathon of tolerance for your spiritual bankruptcy as weakness. Freedom of religion was born in America more than two centuries before your Ayatollah Khomeini manifested the Islamic Republic. Be aware, you are allowing opportunity after opportunity to slip by. To the contrary, you and your government abandon opportunity at a reckless pace. In every prayer, sermon or speech that you defame my country, you are denying peaceful coexistence.
In closing, I recommend you seek the council of rational minds. Sit down with them and make a two column list. In the first column, write down your diplomatic choices. In the second column, write down the most likely result affiliated to each choice in column one. Once you’ve compiled a list you are proud of, send it for review to the best minds you have access to. Do not let those minds praise you for it. By my measure of your words and reasoning to date, I estimate your first list will be absurdly emotional and woefully incomplete. Once compiled, make your choice. Make it a choice worth living for.
Sincerely,
