Iran Vigil in Philadelphia

Tonight, a vigil was held in Philadelphia for those who died opposing their government in Iran.

It was, to me, one of the most humbling moments of my life.

Normally, I like being the center of attention. This time, I stood back and watched... and it was nothing short of beautiful. I had gone to a protest at Rittenhouse Square on Saturday and no one was there. No one. It was disappointing and I went home. Later, I saw someone post on Twitter that they wanted to get a protest together for that night. I helped and we held on at LOVE Park at 9PM. I stood there with a "Don't Tread on Me" flag and a sign that read "Free Iran!" We talked and decided to try something different since it was just us.

A vigil for those who died.

When I got home, I quickly made a blog post and put it on Twitter. I didn't know what would happen. I checked the stats and it got about 200 hits by 7PM, 2 hours before it started. That's amazing since most days I only get 20 to 50. A lot of people were going to it from my Twitter post and a lot of people were e-mailing it to each other.

I got to 5th and Market at 8PM. No one was there.

I stood there with my "Free Iran!" sign, and I tried to light my candle in the wind. I was quickly joined by others, mostly Iranian-Americans, and we all lit candles. Someone from Philadelphia Weekly came by to report on it. A child held my sign.

The group was small, just twelve people... but it was touching and moving in a very big, very real way. When a woman took out a large amount of candles and spelled out "Iran", I almost cried.



I'm not Iranian. I have no connections to whats going on there on a personal level. Me? I'm just someone who is seeing what he is and felt compelled to do something, anything, to show support for those who are dying now for this thing I love, this thing I care so much about. They fight for democracy, they fight for their rights... and it is, to me, the most beautiful thing I've seen.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming out to the event, and to those who didn't... please hold an event. Just go ahead and organize it. All I did was make a post on my blog and it got bigger than I could imagine.

I wish you all well... and peace be with Neda.

Read more about the Philadelphia Weekly story here. They interview a man named "Q", and its incredibly interesting.