Trader’s Narrative

Just a few days after Canada Day, it is time to celebrate the United States of America. Our big brother (in a non-Orwellian meaning of the term).

I’m a Canadian (by adoption) and proud of it. I don’t usually venture off into political discourse but I simply can’t believe the depths that the current US president and administration has sunk to. Without a doubt they will be judged to be the worst ever in the history of a great nation.

But sometimes you need to hit rock bottom, to be able to wake up and reaffirm the values that you stand for and are ready to die for.

So to all the patriots out there, happy Independence Day. May your magnificent country once again remember its founding principles and live up to them.

See you all next week.

If there’s one thing all Iranians (er, I mean Persians) hate, it is being lumped together with Arabs. Why? For one, we aren’t Arab. And for another, our country and civilization was taken over by the Arab (Muslim) hordes and our culture decimated in an attempt to totally erase it.

For more than a thousand years we fought to remain a distinct society while being controlled by a much larger Arab civilization. Persians are very crafty. We use every conceivable tool. For example, we rejected an imposed language by turning the words to mean the opposite. Mozakhraf in Arabic means, beautiful, guilded, ornate. In Persian it means garbage, trivial, of no value.

Our heroes to this day are people who fought against the invading Arab army. My namesake was one such hero. It says a lot about our collective character that to this day, Babak is the most common Persian name for boys - and not Mohammad.

So for the love of all that is holy, please don’t call a Persian an Arab.

Oh, and happy Canada day !!