Entry 63

" Britian's first commercial surrogate baby was born to Mrs Kim Cotton in 1985 and sold to a childless American couple. Mrs Cotton was offered 6500 pounds through an agency for a baby and 15000 pounds by a newspaper for the story. Many people think commercial surrogacy is wrong but Kim Cotton wanted money and having a baby for someone else was one way of getting it.However a committee was quickly set up to look into the rights & wrongs of commercial surrogacy & it is now illegal. There was a lot of publicity at the birth of the baby. As soon as she was born, the daughter and her mother were photographed by the press and then separated for ever. The baby was flown out of the country without the natural mother having the satisfaction of handing her over to the parents. Perhaps Kim Cotton will have regrets about doing what she did, but at the moment she feels she has done the right thing. But what about " Baby " Cotton. How will she feel when she is old enough to understand? Will she feel her mother loved money more than her daughter ? "

From : Reading
By : Rosemary Scott
Oxford University Press

Reading this text made me so shocked & surprised ...
How is it possible for a "woman" & it's better to say a "mother" to sell her baby ?There are lots of women who leave their babies on the streets because of poverty, but they're different from those who give birth to their babies just to sell them to another family ...
I don't know ... when it comes to poverty, everything may happen ...

Entry 62

" Is it foolish to give money to beggars ? "
There has always been an argument in our house & among my friends whether to give money to beggars or not ...
I, myself, almost always give money to them ... esp. when they are young children ...
These days the number of young children who beg in the streets has increased ... These young boys or girls are between the ages of 8 & 13 ... they actually don't beg; they have something like gum, a box of razors, a box of adhesive tapes or pieces of paper on which the lyrics of the Iranian great, famous & well known poet _Hafez_ are written ...
Sometimes I argue with my father that since they're selling something, they are not beggars, but my father says that I don't know who takes the money I give to these children and what it is spent for , may be for drugs for the addicted people ...
I can understand what they say , but I can't stop doing it , I just make myself satisfied by giving them money ...

Entry 61

" There can be no freedom without discipline "
Human being has been born "free"; the question is that: " How much freedom can a person have ? "
Since we are all born the same and we will all die the same, nobody is superior to others, nobody can rule over others and nobody can order others what to do ...
But where is the border of this freedom?
How far can it go?
I think a person can be free in whatever he does, but he shouldn't oppress & violate other people's rights; his rights & his freedom are respectable to the extent that other people's rights and freedom are ...

Entry 60

Would it be true to say that national character is largely influenced by climate ?
I cannot say it is always true and all people's character is always made and influenced by the climate of the area they have been born and lived for a time, but it is largely true ...
I've seen that most of the people who have lived in dry areas where there has been little water like deserts are strict, severe, rigid and inflexible ...
One of my relatives has been born in a dry area ; he's so mean & stingy; he always tries to stock up on everything and is always worried that he may not find food, ... later in his life; he is not generous and he doesn't use or share his possessions with others easily ...
I don't want to say that his stinginess is only because of his hometown or its climate, but I think he's been mostly influenced by the situation of the area he has been born and has lived ...
In his hometown people have always had to stock up on things, because of the dry weather, lack of water , ...
In some cold countries like Sweden, Norway, ... people's character is somehow like the weather of that country ; the people there are mostly cold & insensitive in character ...
It's also true for the people whose home town is dry countries like Arabian countries; the people in these countries are mostly strict, severe & rough in character ...
I can't say what I've said is true all the time & for everyone, but I think it's mostly true ...

Entry 59

The first time I heard " Noam Chomsky " 's name was when I was studying English Literature at university ...



At that time I knew him as the best & greatest linguist in the world ...
Then I knew that he is not only the best linguist but also a great intellectual whose ideas against monarchy, imperialism, terrorism , Zionism , capitalism and esp. as an American , against the present government of the US are really great , deep and valuable ...
And last night I heard that he has been chosen as the first and best alive intellectual in the WORLD ...
I've always tried to read his articles as well as his weblog ...
You can see them here :
Noam Chomsky's official website :

http://www.chomsky.info

Noam Chomsky's weblog :

http://www.chomsky.info/bios.htm

I admire him greatly ...
The interesting point is that " Shirin Ebadi " _ the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 2003 _ is the twelfth ...



and " Mohammad Khatami " _ the former president of Iran _ is the thirteen in this list !

Entry 58

One of the subjects I've always loved to study & know about has been psychology ...
When I was a teenager, I started reading these kinds of books ; I used to read one psychological book after each novel ...
I really enjoyed reading them and gradually began to know myself better and try to make myself and overcome my problems, and I can say that I was really successful in this way ...
I think one can and must know themselves and must try to face their disabilities, shortcomings and problems ,and they should try to overcome them and here psychology really helps !
Of course the problems of people do not just exist inside them ; sometimes they exist outside them ... here psychology cannot directly change the situation outside a person, but it can help people find a way to face and overcome the problem and when one changes from inside, the situation outside her changes for sure ...
I truly believe in psychotherapy, and that is what a psychologist does ...
What he/she does is somehow different from what a psychiatrist does ...
As far as I know, the former talks with the patients and tries to calm them down in this way, but the latter treats people medically ,i.e., they use medications and drugs ...
Of course consulting with a psychologist is better,for using lots of tranquillizers has side effects, but they ARE effective when there's no other way to calm down the person ...
It's the same as the time when we use aspirins when we have a headache: using them is as harmful as using tranquillizers, but when we can't overcome it, we have no other choice !

Entry 57

The presidency of Khatami ...



I think during these 8 years he has done his best ...
His name & his deeds will remain both in Iran and abroad forever ...
He did whatever he could to reform the cultural, political, economical , social and artistic situation in Iran ...
He is the symbol of purity, honesty , patience, love & respect ...
He presented a picture from Iran which made every Iranian proud everywhere ...
And now his presidency has been over ...
I still love him as I did 8 years ago; I'll love him & I'll be proud of him forever

Entry 56

" Africa: Who is to blame ? "
This is what we see these days on TV channels ...
The G8 countries actually didn't do anything ...
They even didn't pay attention to the beautiful live concerts which were held in these 8 countries in protest against the inattention of the world to what is happening in Africa ...
Except a few charities nobody cares about them ...
Everyday millions of people containing poor little children die because of hunger and the governments are just discussing whether they should forgive & ignore their debt or not !
Who is truly to blame ? I
think every single capitalist is to blame ...
The other day , while having a look at the newpaper I noticed something about Nicole Kidman : she earns between 17 to 20 million dollars from each film she acts in !

Entry 55

Terrorism is always condemned everywhere & for everyone in the world, esp. for the innocent people as the ones in London ...
What happened in London made me really sad & depressed ...
Unfortunately they are always the innocent people who become the victims of the ruler's wills ...
As we see the government of most of the countries in the world have expressed their deepest sympathies & have condemned this event ...
Just one question has arisen in my mind which doesn't keep me calm:
" Has the world ever reacted against and sympathized with the innocent people who die EVERY DAY in an explosion in IRAQ ? "

Entry 54

The day before the election is not a good day ... I mean it's depressing ... at least for me ...because I'm not sure if the candidate I support will win the election or not, esp. this year in which there are lots of people who don't support reformation as they used to do 4 years ago by voting Khatami ...
They seem to think that reformation in this way has no result; therefore, they are not going to vote the reformist candidate ...
I don't know what will happen ...
I'm just waiting and praying ...