The author, daughter of Iranian immigrants, reflects on the gratitude and unique appreciation for American liberty instilled by her parents, who fled repression in their homeland.
Her parents' dinner table conversations often centered on Iran, the country they had lost, but their lives in America were defined by the opportunities and freedoms they found. They did not raise their children on grievance, but on gratitude for a country where they could work hard and where the promise of liberty and opportunity was a palpable reality, especially for women.
Her father, arriving in New York City at 17 with a scholarship, planned to become a physician in Iran. However, history intervened, leading him to build a life in the United States, instilling in his children a sense of American identity. He learned the language, absorbed the culture, and assimilated, demonstrating the American Dream through example rather than lecture. This experience taught his daughter that freedom is not universal but an exception, a realization common among immigrants from unfree nations.
This perspective stands in stark contrast to what she observes in some segments of American society today. She notes with concern the instances of children and grandchildren of immigrants on American campuses expressing allegiance to groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the same Islamic Republic that would suppress their freedoms in Iran. This phenomenon, romanticizing a homeland from which one has fled, is deeply unsettling to her and would have been unrecognizable to her parents' generation.
She emphasizes the personal significance of the freedoms she exercises daily, such as speaking her mind on television with her hair uncovered, actions that would carry severe consequences in Tehran. These freedoms, she asserts, are not solely personal but belong to all those silenced or oppressed globally. The foundation of these freedoms, she credits, lies in the American educational system's teachings of national history and ideals, which, despite imperfections, have strived for a government that serves its people.
As the United States approaches its semiquincentennial, she highlights that for millions of expatriate Iranian Americans, the nation represents a vital refuge. It's a place that welcomed, accepted, and enabled their flourishing into a successful and educated community.
Her career reporting on the Iranian regime has shown her that nothing terrifies the Islamic Republic more than the very principles America celebrates on July 4. The nation's ability to tolerate argument, political change, and social upheaval while enduring, and its pluralism and freedom, serve as undeniable proof against the regime's ideology.
She concludes by stating her intention to teach her young son about America not through grievance, but through gratitude, mirroring her parents' example. She offers a heartfelt birthday wish to America, recognizing its profound value from the perspective of those who understand its worth firsthand.