Host: You are very familiar with Iranian culture. Would you please share an Iranian poem with us?
Ambassador Hua: There is a poem written by Saadi, who is one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period and in 1957 was elected to be one of the 1958 world cultural figures. This poem used to grace the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York. The translation goes as: “Human beings are all descendants of Adam and members of a whole, in creation of one essence and soul.” In Farsi, “Adam” and “human being” share the same character. “If one member is afflicted with pain, other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, the name of human you cannot retain.” In Farsi, the poem reads as follows…
