re: #139 Killgore Trout

Ouch, that’s a run of bad luck.

My school in Tehran

Someone once called the Community School “a laboratory of democracy at work.” Besides the Americans, there were many students from prominent Iranian families and children from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, whose families were living temporarily in Tehran. Their parents were diplomats, exiles, military, professionals, oil industry personnel, etc. CHS represented 28 nationalities and eight religions, yet everyone studied and played well together, barely aware of the differences between one another or of the tensions among many of their homelands. Christians, Jews, Moslems, Zoroastrians, and Sikh blended without a problem. Above the school entrance, in beautiful Persian calligraphy, were the words from the Book of John, 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Some students learned the United Nations pledge of allegiance to the individual countries and flags and sang the United Nations hymn, the “Song of Peace,” set to music by the Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.

I never learned the UN part……