Destiny is a mysterious force that no one can comprehend. While some people believe that destiny plays a significant role in shaping their lives, others believe that they have the power to shape their own destiny through the choices and actions they make in their everyday lives.
In Tehran, which is located in north-central Iran at the foot of the Alburz mountain range, lived a young but tall boy called Amir. He was such a hard working boy who started to do manual work from a tender age in order to support his family. He visited the bazaar to help his father in selling fruits and vegetables. On his way back home, he made sure to shop for vegetables and home utensils for his mother.
Amidst that hard work, Amir took an acting class and was doing his best to practice a lot. He was barely twenty and had to ensure a couple of hours between his endless working time were spared in order to attend his studies. Becoming an actor was something Amir had always dreamed of since he was young. Back in those tender days, late in the night right after his father had fallen asleep, Amir would stand in front of the cracked mirror that was hung on the wall inside the room he shared with his father. Staring at himself, he whispered monologues from his favorite Iranian films.
With daily practises at his acting classes, Amir grew more confident in the field and for a moment thought he was the master of his own destiny of becoming an actor. But destiny never works that way. His acting journey coincided with his parents’ divorce and the poor boy found himself in hot water. Destiny is sometimes cruel and so mysterious that no one can comprehend or foretell its force. Everyday disputes between Amir’s parents imposed too much stress on him. Soon enough, it was confirmed that his parents had finally divorced. It was over between the parents but for Amir the troubles had just begun. He was left with so many responsibilities. He had to look after his younger brother and also his mother. His brother was fourteen years old. With all these roles, Amir was unable to continue his acting classes.
One night, he sat on the roof of their house, watching the stars over the Alburz mountains. “This is my destiny,” he murmured to himself. But after the cool wind hit his cheeks and carried the words with them toward the east, he didn’t believe them anymore. “I am not living. I am just surviving and this has nothing to do with my destiny.” Then tears found their way out of his eyes. He couldn’t help but sob long and loudly. After some minutes, he gathered courage and descended from the roof and made his way to his room and slept. Perhaps he had just accepted whatever was happening. After all, this was all out of his control.
In the days that followed, Amir tried his best to look for some better-paying jobs. Luckily enough, he got a job as an accountant at a certain factory. With this new job, he was supposed to arrive early in the morning and knock off late in the evenings.
At that time, Tehran wasn’t as crowded as it is presently. Then, many places had open nature spaces, unlike these present congested buildings. Back then, Tehran was more of a desert and it was very time consuming to walk from one place to another. The so-called subways or instant private taxis weren’t available yet. Because of this, Amir had to make most of his walks to work by foot. He would cross the dangerous dark highways alone.
Even worse, Amir owned no car or bike so he had to take the public bus to reach the vicinity of the factory and then walk the rest of the way for an extra forty minutes. At five in the morning, there was no soul to be seen in the street except Amir, who was supposed to be up already for work when others were still sound and asleep. Most of the time, he had to tip-toe when making his work preparations in their house to avoid waking up his mother and brother who were often asleep then. His mother was a light sleeper so Amir had to do a lot of things silently and sometimes avoided washing his face inside the house. The water buckets and jerricans were stored opposite to his mom’s room. Walking near her room and splashing water on his face made noise that eventually woke up his mother. To avoid this, he simply wore his clothes and washed his face later on in the park near their compound, and off he headed to work without eating breakfast.
Amir kept on working hard to afford his family’s needs and cover their expenses. Regardless of the long working hours and hard work, Amir never complained but instead spent all the money for his mother and brother. He bought everything they needed: meat, rice, vegetables, detergents and even jewellery for his mother. He also paid his brother’s university tuition and the house rent. But little did he know that his dreams were slowly fading away. Amir had forgotten himself completely. His acting classes, his friends and even securing a ticket to the cinema never mattered more to him than supporting his family. Back when his parents were still together, he loved to visit the city theater at Valiasr intersection every weekend. But now he sacrificed himself totally for the family. The only thing that mattered to Amir was that his family were happy and safe.
But which family? The family that didn’t care about him. They only wanted Amir to give them money. His mother, Fariba, only liked her younger son. It is hard to believe but unfortunately, there are mothers like her who directly show favoritism among their own children. Amir, despite covering the rent and all expenses, didn’t have access to the house keys, for example. Each time he came home from work he had to ring a bell and wait for them to open it whenever they wanted. This happened in all the seasons of the year. Come rain or wind, summer or winter, snow or melting heat and even in darkest and freezing nights, Amir stayed behind the door for long hours waiting for them to open the door. At times, he had to wait even longer when they weren’t home. His mother and younger brother often attended parties and returned late at night finding hungry Amir dozing on the verandah in his work suit. During these party days, of which they never informed him in advance, they never cooked anything for him or brought anything with them for him to eat. Couldn’t they notice that Amir was hungry and tired after work? Couldn’t they at least inform him beforehand and trust him with the keys that lawfully belonged to him? But still, they had their dinner at the parties and that was enough for them. They seemed careless about kind Amir.
“Amir, don’t open the refrigerator,” his mother would shout. “Your hands are dirty.” Sometimes she would even speak harshly to him in front of his younger brother and visitors. “I don’t need you in the kitchen.”
Amir often slept hungry. He didn’t eat the things he bought; he had neither breakfast nor dinner. He provided his family with everything needed but he was deprived of it all. Little by little, Amir felt an unpleasant stomachache and it became worse. One day, he went to consult a doctor who did a few health checks on him.
“Have you been eating lately?” the doctor inquired.
“Not that much doctor. Here and there!” he answered sadly.
“Based on what I find, due to lack of food, your body produced some acids that have caused stomach ulcers.” The doctor revealed the cause. “You truly need to be eating more often.” He then prescribed him to take medication each time he ate a healthy meal. Still, to his mother, this wasn’t enough of a reason to stop her sorry and greedy behavior. She didn’t care at all.
The next morning, he saw fresh bread and cheese on the kitchen table. When Amir reached for a piece, his mother slapped his hand. “That’s for your brother.” Amir left with an empty stomach and his stomach pain was worse. He didn’t work well that day.
With a far observant eye, time passed and Amir grew older. Now he was 26. Clever enough, upon seeing what was happening, he had decided to keep some money. So one day he decided to go to college and pursue his studies using his savings. He wanted to be in control of his own destiny. And there, at the university, Amir met a young lady called Roya. They were in the same class. They became fast friends. Little by little they fell in love and spent most of the time together. They helped each other with school assignments and projects. Roya knew English better than Amir. She helped him to improve his language. Roya was like an artist who came into Amir’s life to paint it with all the brightest colours the rainbow holds.
One day, Amir asked her out, and since Roya liked him, she said yes. She went ahead and informed her family as well. They were so happy to hear the news. They asked Amir to introduce his family to them. Roya’s parents wanted to see and know them better. Both families talked and afterwards chose a day for an official marriage proposal. Right on the special day of proposing, Amir’s mother refused to come unless she was given a gold bracelet. Amir was heartbroken and speechless. He hadn’t expected such behaviour from his own mother. Either way, he was obliged to do it—after all, a worthy marriage depends on the elders’ blessings.
For every little thing that Amir wanted to do, Fariba asked for something. It was unbelievable! How could a mother do something horrible to her son? Especially a son like Amir who had sacrificed his wishes, time, money and his entire youth for her to be happy. She didn’t care at all and went even further by asking for a new flashy outfit, a large amount of money and a gold bracelet before the wedding night. Instead of helping his son, she took advantage of him by spending much of his savings. And poor Amir kept on paying all the bills for his mother. He never said no because he believed that as a son, he had to respect his mother no matter what.
Roya and Amir got married, finally. Only a week later his mother asked Amir to give his own brother a third of his house. Amir got angry and they argued with each other over it. For a moment, Amir had enough of her. Now married, Amir was looking at how he would look after his new family and not his already grown-up brother who squandered money in university.
Then, the government of Iran provided people with the opportunity of having their own house on the condition of marriage. At the time Amir bought the house, he was still unmarried and so he transferred the house deed to his mother after paying all the money and installments himself. And now his mother wanted the whole of it for his younger son. Amir was wrecked and totally collapsed. He decided to speak to his wife over this matter. After all, a problem shared is half solved. To his beautiful and trusted wife, he explained everything. Roya was so shocked. She was so sorry for his dearest husband. She didn’t help it but cried along.
“Dear, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Roya sadly enquired. Though she was sad, she decided to do something. She called Amir’s maternal aunt. She was the only person who could solve this problem.
The aunt arrived the next day without informing Fariba. She tried not to raise her voice and simply looked at Amir’s mother and said, “I watched this boy give you his youth. You will sign the house back or I will tell the whole family what you’ve done.” His mother was tongue-tied. Truly, the truth had shown itself. Afterwards, Amir and his mother went to the notary public office to transfer the house to Amir, the real owner. Through all the injustice and cruelty of Amir’s mother, Amir and Roya never insulted her but rather acted kind to her despite everything that happened.
One day, when Fariba and her younger son had nowhere to go, Amir and Roya hosted them. This lovely couple believed that blood was thicker than water and no matter what Amir’s mom did, she was still their mother. But one day when they were at work, Fariba and her younger son took two thousand dollars from Amir’s closet and also 100 million toman that had already been transferred to their account by Amir as a gift to rent a house. The selfish and greedy duo left and never returned. Amir and Roya have never heard from them since then. Truly, destiny determines who comes into our lives but it’s the heart that decides who stays long. They stayed forever and the happy couple enjoyed having each other.
Amir suffered a lot in life but Roya did her best to give him a second chance of living a good life. Each morning before going to work, Roya made sure that breakfast was ready. Likewise, she ensured lunch and supper were ready too. Roya also prepared some snacks for him to eat during the day. She believed that Amir deserved a happy life and a second chance to turn his dreams of becoming an actor into reality. She persuaded and motivated him to give it a try once more. Inspired and with so much joy, Amir was convinced that sooner or later he would fulfil his lost destiny. His wife kept on supporting him and cheering him up throughout his theatre and acting studies.
Their destiny offered not only the cup of despair but also pieces of opportunity. Amir grabbed those opportunities, finished his studies and graduated from university. Now Amir is living his dream. He not only works as an actor and a director but also teaches theatre at the University.
