[Peace-discuss] Obama's Saadi quote

[Robert Naiman]

from daily kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/20/710841/-Big-News...Obama-to-Iran:-Eid-eh-Shoma-Mobarak!

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no accident that Obama quoted Saadi

one of the great medieval Persian poets, Saadi (1184 – 1283/1291?) was
a Sufi mystic whose work is highly regarded for its sophistication of
social thought. Arguably, Saadi had considerable influence on a number
of important European thinkers a few centuries back, the architects of
our modern democracy. Among many writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a
particular Saadi enthusiast.

It shouldn't be lost on anyone that one of Saadi's most famous poems
(and I believe the poem Obama was quoting) actually graces the
entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York, with a
call for the breaking of barriers:

بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکرند
      که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند
      چو عضوى به درد آورد روزگار
      دگر عضوها را نماند قرار
      تو کز محنت دیگران بی غمی
      نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی

      Human beings are members of a whole,
      In creation of one essence and soul.
      If one member is afflicted with pain,
      Other members uneasy will remain.
      If you have no sympathy for human pain,
      The name of human you cannot retain.


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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org