The Good Kids of the Neighborhood
Some other days after the Night of Thousand Words, I finally met up with an old friend from my neighborhood. (O.F#1 is a schoolmate) Back in the days, my friends and I used to be a little too much of a hand full for the local Basij people. The head of the division actually knew us by name, and when he had any question regarding the Heavy Metal music or the new movies, would come to us and made indirect inquiries. Quite and open-minded person now that I think about it. In any case we were not the Khalaf (wrong) kids, but we were extremely successful in being picked up and harassed while we were trying to pick up (this was from age 13-16 for me)
Anyhow on the plan to Tehran I was thinking about these kids and I also had heard that price of Heroin in our local is low comparative to other areas of similar income.
Anyhow, we met and after the warm welcome that is the tradition of the Iranians, he asked my what I'm doing here and After I told him that I came to see how is the weather and the city and the people, he bluntly told me don't come back here, unless you are a going to put your money in the bank (Islamic Republic has found a way around the Religious rule that prohibits interest and now the interest rates in Iran are between 16 to 25 percent) and live of it interest.
He told me that from our group (4 girls 6 guys) 3 are married one, and all are employed and all are clean. Every one but two have jobs. He went one to admit that it is pretty remarkable that none have gone to waste considering that 100 gram of heroin cost twice as much as a packet of smokes (Rials 28,000 = $ 2.96) I cannot disagree there, no social life, unemployment of 20 percent, inflation of 25 percent, no political leanings and bankruptcy of the value system makes things such as addiction more likely. The University is nearly impossible to get into ( like Japan) e special circumstances (unlike Japan) such as being loyal that young just give up or leave the country (like Myself).
He went one to tell me that the government is not regulating the economy in some key sectors since people who control the monopolies on the certain daily goods are under the patronage of the Supreme Leader or the Head of Expediency Council (the Shark).
To be countinued
Anyhow on the plan to Tehran I was thinking about these kids and I also had heard that price of Heroin in our local is low comparative to other areas of similar income.
Anyhow, we met and after the warm welcome that is the tradition of the Iranians, he asked my what I'm doing here and After I told him that I came to see how is the weather and the city and the people, he bluntly told me don't come back here, unless you are a going to put your money in the bank (Islamic Republic has found a way around the Religious rule that prohibits interest and now the interest rates in Iran are between 16 to 25 percent) and live of it interest.
He told me that from our group (4 girls 6 guys) 3 are married one, and all are employed and all are clean. Every one but two have jobs. He went one to admit that it is pretty remarkable that none have gone to waste considering that 100 gram of heroin cost twice as much as a packet of smokes (Rials 28,000 = $ 2.96) I cannot disagree there, no social life, unemployment of 20 percent, inflation of 25 percent, no political leanings and bankruptcy of the value system makes things such as addiction more likely. The University is nearly impossible to get into ( like Japan) e special circumstances (unlike Japan) such as being loyal that young just give up or leave the country (like Myself).
He went one to tell me that the government is not regulating the economy in some key sectors since people who control the monopolies on the certain daily goods are under the patronage of the Supreme Leader or the Head of Expediency Council (the Shark).
To be countinued
posted by The Hopeful Cynic at 12:31 PM
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