Tag: bahai

Two factors influenced my decision to retire from writing a bi-weekly column. I recently turned 88, and for several years I’ve been going blind with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among elderly.

A lot of people don’t like to talk about aging and particularly the way it ends in death. I view aging as an arc, a beautiful rainbow (sometimes double, if I’m lucky), from horizon to horizon, a full arc across the sky, bringing beauty and hope.

The 20th century had a focus on bringing the teachings to and establishing Bahá’í communities in every country and region of the world, which Bahá’ís were quite successful at.

Last week, Bahá’ís of the world were informed that a website, “Archive of Bahá’í Persecution in Iran,” is now available. It provides “a resource of unparalleled significance” for anyone seeking irrefutable evidence of Baha’i persecutions.

Last week’s commentary “for non-Jews on Judaism” by Hyphen Parent caught my interest. I’m not Jewish. Never was. I was raised Episcopalian, embraced agnosticism for more than a decade and settled into the Baha’i Faith for the last half-century. Along the way I’ve always admired the rich cultural heritage of my many Jewish friends.

In our zero-sum political system, winners take all. It pays to invest in politicians who further our own interests, often at the expense of others. Ironically, our system of governance is among the world’s finest. For a couple of centuries it’s set the gold standard for emerging democracies worldwide. And that’s what’s scary. We can, we must, do better.

Besides symbolizing God’s eternal promise, the rainbow’s physical and spiritual beauty can be viewed as a metaphor for how we humans age. As we go through life, we admire rainbows from afar, pure light scattering myriad hues through crystal prisms of raindrops. The naked eye detects only bright colors, distinct yet inseparable.