Dear Neda,
I can hear you now. In a low, but determined voice, you tell me how much you love your country and the Persian people. With the enthusiasm typical of your youth, you share what your friends are doing back home to desperately hold on to living their lives expansively with righteousness and free will. You have a beautiful smile. Your expressive eyes are dark and exotically framed by your long black lashes. They boldly state your hopes and dreams.
The more you speak about the freedom of your people, the fuller you sound. You engage every ounce of my attention span. I am caught up inside your vortex of veracity. Your words flow as easy as the oxygen we both breathe. You continue on about the plans you have with your friends to organize for Iran's transformation.
Filled with emotion, I wish I could go back with you. But I am too much of a coward. It is easier to watch you and your friends on CNN. In complete deference, admiration and a tinge of jealously over your brave heart, all I can I do is reach out to grab and hold you like a sister telling you how proud I am of you. But I can't. You were never there.
Neda, I actually met you on video like the millions of people around the world this past weekend. You were lying face up on a dirty street in Tehran. Soaked in a pool of your own blood your eyes are wide open and mine for a moment are shut. In your silence, you have spoken to me louder than any voice ever has screaming for liberty and justice.
Neda you are a martyr -- A Shahida for Freedom. Your end bears witness to the world waging war against oppression, repression and tyranny. Although you will never give birth to a son or daughter, your last breath gave delivery to a new image -- the Madar/Umuma (the mother) of a free Iranian Ummah. There is nothing any Mullahs or political leaders of Iran can do to eclipse the might of your sacrifice. The order of your murder gave you the power. Cut down in your prime, your death is more powerful than their lives. No matter what happens, here-to-fore, the Islamic Republic of Iran will never be the same again.
Thank you for being a woman of ultimate courage. Thank you for showing the world faith through sacrifice. And, Inshallah, your martydom will not be in vain.