Motto on the entrance of the United Nations building
(Persian) Iranian poet Saadi, wrote a poem eight century ago that later became a motto on the entrance of the United Nations building.
Saadi, eloquently manifested:
The sons of Adam are limbs of each other, Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time affects one limb The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others
Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human.
-
writing in Persian:
Bani aadam aazaye yek digarand
ke dar aafarinesh ze yek gooharand
cho ozvi be dard aavarad roozegaar
degar ozvhaa raa namaanad gharaar
to kaz mehnate digaraan bi ghami
nashaayad ke naamat nahand aadami
Reza Shahrjerdi
07 Oct 2004 18:32
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[Skip to the latest comment]Does this poem appear in two languages on the entrance of the UN building?
09 Oct 2004, 01:35
REZA
I dont know , the first time I heard this I was in year 5 primary school when my teacher gave me Saadi's book as a present (its one of my favorite books still) , and then I found it in UN related websites recently.
Reza
11 Oct 2004, 13:23
Amirsalari
Nice weblog Reza , but take a look at this article:
link
13 Oct 2004, 06:52
Reza Shahrjerdi
Thanks AmirSalari , there are some good points in that article and as you know history of ancient civilization is like a heavy anchor that stops new steps toward new experiences , so busy to be proud of what their fathers did instead of trying to make something by themselves.
But :
Just put a part of that poem (English) in a search engine like google and for sure you will find many links , so it should have a start point somewhere , but of course it’s value is not because is on UN wall or not , the word itself is a nice and deep saying and if Saadi could transfer his message to just one person and impress him/her is enough , because it says “happiness” or “suffering” of one person equals to happiness or suffering of entire world and its true , world is nothing else than its meaning in our mind.
And then , this is the power of media even an small weblog , to bring people to discuss about everything to make it maybe more clear ,but if we notice we are so very different with people eight hundreds ago , we have internet , we have spaceships , we have cars , we have world cup , and so on. But we still “suffer” and we still “enjoy” in our everyday life and we need good comments like “The sons of Adam are limbs of each other ..” to take care of each other .
Thanks ,
Reza
13 Oct 2004, 11:43
Ok. Thanks. Will have a look at the web-sites.
13 Oct 2004, 23:08
sarfraz
Saadi was a geat Muslim Scholar, such placement of the verses truly reflect his potentials n r best way to pay him tribute. I wish this also true manifestation in implementation on griound especially from developed nations towards developing nations.
08 Dec 2004, 18:35
Nima
I really like this, and it makes me feel very proud. Iranians are not verry well knwon around the world compared to other cultures but seeing this is great.
28 Jan 2005, 21:54
Nima
Hi
28 Jan 2005, 21:55
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