I didn’t know how to share this sad and compelling story. It has been days since I first heard about it and received the picture!
Very little is known about the details of how this carrot cut was brought back to life in the dark and miserable solitary cell of Evin prison? All we know is that Fariba one of the seven Baha’i leaders in Evin prison had kept track of the days and nights and knew her young daughter’s birth day was coming soon.
What could she do? She could not even hold her daughter’s hand or squeeze her in her arms since the prisoners could only visit by phone from behind a glass wall.
Fariba remembered how frightened her daughter looked that early morning when the officials broke into their house and took her away in hand-coughs. The young girl shows the side-effects of the trauma. Fariba prayed to God and asked Baha’u’llah for help if she could only brighten her daughter’s frightened and sad heart.
One day the prison ward brought her a few pieces of wilted salad in a small bowl. Her eyes brightened as she saw the bottom part of a piece of a carrot thinking about the possibilitiy of a life that she can sprout from that lifeless cut. The carrot became the golden treasure in her continious darksome nights. We can only imagine her holding the carrot close to her heart wrapped in a piece of cloth, feeding it by her prayers and watering it with her tears and drops out of the ration of water she got. We do not know how long it took and and what miracle brought the lifeless plant to sprout and how she managed to keep it safe. If only that carrot could talk!!
What would you call this vibrant force of life and love? A birthday gift no money can buy? A miracle that God bloomed in prison? Drowned in tears and wrapped in sighs? A living Valentine? Bahai mom’s life giving breath brought a dead piece of carrot to life? Green leaves of freedom and love? A sign from God?
How about calling it what the young Taraneh might write; I weep for my mom’s kisses and hugs but the carrot plant she grew for my birthday in prison loves to wipe my tears and be wrapped in my sighs and does listen to me at night.
Let us grow a carrot for every child’s heart who prays for a gift of peace and real love.
Keyvan
