Dreaming of Damavand:

To the North of the City of Tehran is a mountain I want to climb. With a summit of 5,609 metres (18,402 ft), it would not be the highest I have been, but it is the tallest mountain in Iran and I’m admired it over the years. When I began climbing, my best friend was Iranian, and we would look at Mountains all over the world. Five years ago, I got to embrace him at Base Camp in Mount Everest after he reached the summit

. It is a fond hope of mine that we will someday be able to summit Damavand together.  In Zoroastrian texts and mythology, the three-headed dragon Aži Dahāka – the embodiment of evil - was chained within Mount Damāvand, there to remain until the end of the world.

If only it were that easy to restrain evil.

When I walk my children to school in the morning, I reflect on how they are so much of my world and how our government, likely relying on overblown and faulty AI tech, bombed a school in Tehran. Oppressive regimes in both countries seem to be sliding back into hostilities and the innocents in both countries are left to wonder: ‘how do we change the leadership of our nations?’

How do we create a world where our children can explore freely?

This I know:

The mountain will remain long after this war.

There are people who in and around Tehran who look to the mountain Damāvand and want to climb its slopes.

I like to dream that one day I will climb it with them.