by Alan B. Combs

It is easy to forget history. I know I am guilty of it. The tendency is that anything that happened before our time just doesn’t exist. We are especially guilty of not paying attention to recent history in the Middle East, that continuous inflagration of politics and warfare. I present the following as an example.

Recently, I overheard a couple of the undergraduate students talking about Modern Persia, a country which currently is under the less-than-benevolent leadership of the ayatollhas and immams. Was there history before these leaders? These students didn’t have a clue. They could not even remember the name for the old, expensive, Persian shoulder wrap that was so much a part of the lifestyle of that time. In fact, it took a revolution to remove it from the backs of the people. Don’t you remember? I am talking about the Shawl of Iran, of course.