Rebellious Lines / Line 4 / Kazem Kazerounian, University Professor, USA
This is the English translation of the Farsi original
A word to those whose hearts beat for Iran, yet whose steps hesitate.
Gray is a wound that does not bleed; it only burns, quietly and without sound. It seeks neither light nor darkness. It lingers between fire and ash, between seeing and standing still. It is the color of caution, the hue of fatigue. To be gray is to stand in half-light. You neither cry out to be seen, nor burn to illuminate. You remain in ambiguity to escape judgment, but that very ambiguity slowly consumes you.
You suspend your conscience, not letting it die, yet not allowing it to awaken. You feel anger, but not enough to act. Overflowing with emotion, yet empty of action. Grayness is the refuge of a weary conscience, where one says: I am not guilty, merely lost between right and wrong. But in a world ruled by oppression, even ignorance is a choice.
Neutrality is a shade of gray. It quietly eats away at the soul and numbs the conscience. In a land where darkness reigns, remaining gray is merely continuing the darkness in a more polite tone. Neutrality is watching without standing, reading of executions, writing a few lines of analysis, and closing the page. It is understanding pain but refusing to turn it into duty. Watching the fire from behind the window, you feel its warmth but you do not burn.
If neutrality is not born of fear, it is born of doubt. If it does not stem from indifference, personal gain, disbelief, or lack of love for Iran, then its root is doubt, a doubt that slowly devours courage and numbs the conscience. They say: We will not be deceived again. They are right. But if fear of repetition turns one into a spectator of repetition, that is no longer wisdom, it is surrender.
They say: We trust no one. True, they have heard too many lies. But if distrust becomes permanent, it is poison. They say: They are all the same. No, they are not. There is a difference between one who kills and one who strives, between the executioner and the one who, even under the lash, preserves the smile of humanity.
This doubt was crafted by the regime, not with bullets, but with whispers. With years of propaganda, with the distortion of words, with a thousand false narratives. They taught you that no one is pure, so you would never stand. They taught you not to distinguish between black and gray, so you would never move toward the light.
If left unchecked, doubt steals belief, hope, and resolve, until you no longer fight injustice, nor hate it; you are simply tired. But doubt is not destiny, it is responsibility. If born of inquiry, doubt is illumination. If born of fear, it is darkness. Scientific doubt asks to understand; unscientific doubt asks to escape. One opens paths, the other closes them. Scientific doubt is like a lamp; it shines so the path may be seen. Unscientific doubt is like fog; it wraps around so nothing can be seen. We must confront doubt, not dwell in it. We must pass through it, not hide within it. For unanswered doubt is the quietest form of surrender.
Doubt does not only kill you, it spreads. It is a silent illness that passes from gaze to gaze, infecting hearts. When one person’s conscience goes quiet, their silence settles on the lips of others. Know this: doubt is not just silence, it is the silencing of other hearts. Each time you say It’s useless, There is no hope, There is no way, There is no alternative, a light dies in someone’s heart. And doubt whispers in your ear that the light you did not see was already extinguished, that the voice you did not hear was already silent, so you believe there is nothing left to see or hear. And one day, not only do you remain silent, you begin to speak the language of denial.
The direction is clear, even if the path is foggy. You do not need to be without doubt, you only need to be without pause. The road is not built by absolute faith, but by the first step. Move, however slowly, however uncertainly, for the future belongs to those who, even in doubt, take a step forward.