Reply to a question

1-One of my friends,Nader, asked me a question in Persian blog about my definition of immorality,In my view immorality or corruption is something which adversely affect individual and society,in this definition even if a single man who is under sexual pressure and is standing against his natural desire,is hurting himself mentally and this behavior can result in corruption vice versa if a married person who has a relationship out of marriage is doing immorality, if any relationship does not hurt individual or society,it can be considered as a healthy relationship,so if a single man and girl like to have any kind of relationship and their parents agree and there is no cheating,what is wrong with that,even in Islam(shiee version) the sex before marriage is legal with some conditions and called temporary marriage ,so Islam has opened a ground in this matter but our culture resists and still relationship between girls and guys are taboo.I am not saying the marriage is not the best way,but it is not possible for everyone in each time.
In Christianity since Jesus did not get marry and was born from a mother who did not marry ,the sex before marriage and even marriage is not so encouraged compared to Islam and some thinkers believe the current situation of immorality in west is a result of this view in Christianity which ruled Europe in past centuries.
Here boyfriend and girlfriend are accepted among families and they are considered as a family members,this relationship can end to marriage or not,but both sides take advantage of this relationship and they are not under the sexual pressure physically and mentally during this period. the problem in Iran is that parents usually do not agree with this kind of relationship and hidden friendships formed under table and far from eyes of family members,another problem is that most guys are looking for just sex and most girls are looking for marriage and these different expectations cause some problems, interesting point is guys have a relative freedom in intimate friendship but for girls this is a taboo.
Anyway this is the issue which whole society should decide about that and we can not blame other countries for their social decision, let's pay attention to ourselves!
2- Last week we went to the American Airline center for watching basketball game between maverick and Miami on big screen TVs,the half odf stadium was full and people despite me were excited about game,I was mostly excited about construction of this huge stadium,It has 4 stories and we were in third floors. 20,000 people can watch the game in this stadium.

Barber shop

1- I went to barber shop last week,despite Iran most barbers do not really know how to cut hairs,they think people come to their shops just for shortening hair not for beauty,and you should explain for them how many inches of your hairs should be cut and how it should be done,anyway I think this a reason that George Bush has an Afghan barber.The guy who was cutting my hair asked me where I am from.I told him "Iran"
"I am so sorry for you guys!"Barber told.
"why?,maybe because we lost to Mexico in world cup."
"Yes"
"I do not know wht happend,but we played well in the first half time,but not in second half time."
"Where are you from?"
"I am from Thailand."
"Oh,good.you have a good team,whenever we need to beat you,you are very nice with us."
"Yes,this is true,we were beaten by Iran,several times."
"How long have you been here?"
"Since I was a kid,I want to save money and return to Thailand,I want to have my own business in my hometown,since I have been here for a long time,I can not work for another person.people make me fun if I do it"
"Same thing in Iran,People think everybody who goes to US ,would get some extraordinary characteristic and he should be so different,but in most cases it is not true."
2-I noticed here that people and women are very interested in having kids and media advertise for this matter,for example some times ago Angelina julie was pergnet and there was a huge advertisement about that in media such that she preferred to go to South Africa for birth of her baby. when each actress comes to TV show,she is asked about her baby and she enthusiastically explains about the baby like how the baby talk or walk,this a case which nobody cares about that in Iran.
Another point which I should tell is that the image of American women in Iran is like they are very loose in sex. on the other hand most people think that you can sleep with each girl you see which is not correct in most cases. I do not reject that there are some women who they do not care about sex morality but they are not in majority,mostly they are looking for a long term relationship which ends in marriage. I think freedom in relationship does not necessarily result in sex immorality. However this is a veiw which Iranian media and some movies has formed, and vice versa the real image of Iran is not the smae thing which American media show.

Values

1-Christian is one of graduate students in our department who is from Brazil, he asked me "do you know what is gonna happen on Sunday at 10:30 am,"No" I answered.
"It is a soccer game between Iran and Mexico,how do not you know?!"suprisingly he said.
"When I was younger I used to be fan of soccer,but right now I am careless about it."I said.
I remember we had a class with one of our TA who was PhD student before a match of Iran and Australia which was an important game for going to France world cup in 1998.He was so careless about that game and we were so exited about that,I was wondering how it was possible to be like him,but now I feel like him!This is true that when we are growing our values change and I think in each priod of life we have certain concerns,childhood and adultness values are so different.
2-People in here are not fan of soccer but mostly they are interested in football, basketball, baseball and so on which some of them are not interesting in my view,so for this reason soccer world cup is not a hot topic in here.

Buddhism

Last Monday was Memorial day and we had 3 cosecutive day off,Since this is my first year which I lived here I did not expect these holidays and did not have any plan for that.Most of my friends were out of town and I felt lonely at home. One day, Amarano called me and invited me to join him and his wife for walking at white rock lake. He is from Sri lanka which is famous for tea.
White rock lake is one of a few lakes in Dallas and has a beautiful park,Landscape in here is very beautiful compared with my home town ,Which I think this is the kindness of God to this people.
Amarano is buddhist and I started conversation with him about Buddhism. He said Buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy.
"What is your Basic ideas?"
"We have 5 principles,1- do not lie 2- do not steal 3-do not drink 4- do not rape 5- do not kill a live existence, we believe everyone who breaks these rules would face some problems and would get the reaction in this life,because there is a reaction for any action."
"If somebody doesn't get the reaction in this world what is gonna happen?"
"we believe in rebirth which means people will bear after death,if the person has been a good guy will have a good life otherwise he/she would face a lot of problems and pains.we believe there is a circulation in the world, things change from one form to another form.we do not believe in heaven or hell."
"Interesting!so you mean I have been another person before my birth!but I do not remember anything from my previous life?"
"You remembered when you were a child but you couldn't speak!"
"what does your God look like?"
"We have a lot of gods."
"There should be some conflict among your gods?"
"Yes,there is!"
"But the world is going well!"
"And he said something in response but I could not understand it because he has a strong accent,now I understand how much pain Americans have to understand people with different accents like me!"
"I asked about Buda statues in Temples."
"Buda is our teacher and statues are used because of remembrance."
"why Buddhism is not global like Islam and Christianity?"
"Because we did not force people to convert to Buddhism like you guys in past centuries."
"Iwas laughing!"
I was trying to understand some concepts of Buddhism,it does not make sense for me.I was thinking maybe different religions are different interpretations of this world,and this interpretation has being more reasonable when human beings has been more advanced.
Who knows?