Shirin

The day started beautifully. The hotel looked as if it had come out of the 30s. For some reason it made me think of Tender is the Night by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Very special atmosphere. It really felt autumn.

I have to admit that even when I am trying to avoid it, it is almost impossible not to get into a museum. And I am so glad I did. First of all, because walking through its almost empty rooms I felt peaceful. And then because I had the opportunity to see Marlene Dumas´s Against the Wall exhibition. Two of her paintings drew particularly my attention.
"Living on your knees" - A praying muslim or a humiliated palestinian?
"The sleep of reason" - Us all?

And then, meeting Shirin Ebadi. Many people were waiting to enter the auditorium and she passed among us. Tiny, looking shy, but still, I could imagine her wearing the obligatory scarf and defying in court her country´s brutal regime. Once she´s on stage, once she starts talking, she grows bigger and bigger. The expression becomes tough and determined, the voice is strong, steady. She´s and imense woman, she belongs to all of us.

Not a good photo, but all mine.

And now, putting aside, just for a while, politics, brutal regimes, human rights, brave people, culture, religion, freedom of speech, I can confess which was the other passage from her book that touched a chord. Talking about her elderly mother after voting for the first time in years:

"When we were coming out she told me: 'I wish your father was still alive.' She would rarely say that. It was her way of saying that she was feeling happy at that moment."