This land used to be the city and dwelling place of compassionate companions. When did compassion come to its end? What has happened to all the rulers of the land?
This was written by Hafez of Shiraz, poem number 169, lamenting the lack of friendship, companionship, and compassion in his land nearly 700 years ago in Persia. I listened to Shajarian the Elder reciting it on a YouTube video, which is truly beautiful. The video is well done, featuring the incomparable voice of Mohammad Reza Shajarian and the eternal words of Hafez. Just gorgeous.
One thing led to another. It made me think of the social scientist Robert Putnam, whose interview was published in The New York Times on 20th July 2024. I share his anguish and his prediction as a social scientist, which has come true—what has happened to the United States of America.
I was a teenager, traveling from Sweden to my home in Australia, and stopped over in New York. I couldn’t get over the energy, enthusiasm, friendliness, optimism, and trust that exuded from the USA at that time, which made me an instant fan of the country.
But what has happened?
Right now, it is so divided, misinformed, with people following like lambs to the slaughter, and an anti-intellectual atmosphere. Racism, sexism, and fear of the other—it is as if their civilization is going backward.
I am glad I was able to read the transcript of the interview with the social scientist Robert Putnam, who is an expert on social capital (both bonding and bridging capital). Please read about him: bonding is with similar people who share your culture, educational background, and intellectual curiosity, while bridging capital is when your ties are with people who are unlike yourself.
From the gilded age in the 1960s when the USA was more socially equal than Sweden, it has descended into division, polarization, loneliness, and a lack of friendship and community—the very same thing Hafez wrote about 700 years ago.
Thinking about this in countries I am fond of—the polarization in the USA, the economic meltdown in Cuba, the physical and emotional oppression of women in Iran, the barbaric treatment of minorities in Burma—I realize that this is a phase. There is a good chance that each of these countries could swing back to the glory that existed before revolutions and social calamities took place.
Let us hope so.
