In The Name of Peace: From Cycling to Running!
It is almost a year since US started practicing new rules for US borders especially the US/Mexican border. Those days before Sep.11 and even a few months afterwards you would cross the border just by showing your California ID/Driver license. Nowadays things have gone way different.
Reza
Baluchi, an Iranian cyclist, left Iran six years ago and biked across six
continents about 46000 miles in the name of peace. Reza experienced the horror
of violence many times in his life before he started his journey
in the name of peace. Living in Iran, he witnessed his brother
coming back from Iran-Iraq war all shattered, he was caught by government
agents for his deeds breaking the Islamic law. Spending 18 months in prison for associating with
"counter-revolutionaries” was the last straw that broke the camel’s back
.It was then he started pedaling for Peace. He
confronted many ups and downs in his quest for peace but nothing was comparable
to what he experienced crossing US/Mexican border.
After the events of
September 11, 2001 Reza had decided to ride to Ground Zero to express his
goodwill for the American people. Riding north through Mexico Reza's journey
abruptly halted. He mistakenly crossed the border and was arrested by U.S.
Border Patrol agents who found him camping in the Arizona desert. You can guess
what happened afterwards. He was charged with entering US illegally and was imprisoned
at the INS detention center in Florence, Arizona. After a few months
imprisonment with the help of American gentleman: David Hyslop ,
finally, in February 2003, an immigration judge-LaMonte Feerks- granted
Reza political asylum. David Hyslop was one of the many people who received the e-mail on Reza
imprisonment in INS jail and decided to help him. He offered Reza a place to
stay after he was released from INS prison,
While in prison, Reza stated that if freed, he would finish
his peace tour by running on foot from Los Angeles to New York to
arrive in Ground Zero right on Sep.11, 2003.He wanted to demonstrate to the
world what he believed in:” War is bad and peace is good.” Reza wants to
be a messenger of Peace. He has the doctrine of freedom and practices the
religion of freedom. He wants to communicate his believes in the loudest
possible voice to all people.
After months of preparation n May 11, 2003, he officially
started running for peace. In this quest Reza is still accompanied by David
Hyslop, a 47-year-old LA entrepreneur that helped Reza after he was freed from
jail , now is helping Reza to fulfill that promise. David accompanies Reza on a
donated RV. David helps Reza plan his way through continental USA and arranges
the public appearances/interviews with different magazines/media so the efforts
of Reza can be reflected appropriately when he arrives in NY on September 11,
2003.
In each town Reza has been warmly welcomed by Iranians
living in that town. Iranians try to support him by donations to make sure that
his journey goes on smoothly. Yet what Reza states as the best support is just
somebody to run with him shoulder by shoulder. Even some Persian supporters fly
from LA or other parts of US to where he is to accompany him in his running quest.
In each town, Reza and David regal listeners with stories about the runner's
adventures traveling around the world and across the United States. Reza’s
native language is Farsi, so David and him communicate in a mixture of English
and Spanish.
David about Reza says: "He doesn't have a political
agenda, he doesn't have a religious agenda. He simply wants peace and tolerance
among all people. He's doing the rest with his feet.”
Reza’s message is so simple, so touching yet so valuable. It
reminds me of Forrest Gump:*
Lieutenant
Dan: Have you found God yet, Gump?
Forrest
Gump: I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him.
Looking for God in here seems like searching for peace. We
all talk about it; we hope it will rule over our world but how much time do we
ever spend thinking about it closing our eyes on all prejudices around us?
So far, Reza has run through California, Arizona, New
Mexico, Texas and part of Oklahoma. He plans to continue traveling east along
Interstate 40 nearly to the east coast, go north for a stop in Washington,
D.C., and then run towards final destination: New York City.**
All this time, Reza is being asked if he is tired and he
always with his cheerful face:” I cannot stop me. I run for peace."
Kathy Hadizadeh
July 15,2003
* From Forrest
Gump movie (1994): http://www.atlyrics.com/quotes/f/forestgump.html
**You can follow
Reza and his progress through: http://www.run4peace.com/