see http://bahai.us/house-resolution

On the above page the tell you to go to www.house.gov when you know your full zip code.

For supplemental info about the persecutions see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Bahais

Yes, we definitely need faith and vision. But it really shouldn’t need a disaster to evoke this wonderful spirit.

I applaud your entry. I live in New Orleans, and I am a Baha’i. I was here in the aftermath of Katrina. I watched as an entire city came to a hault. After the flood waters abated - no electricity, no water, no sewer, no trash collection, no cell phone service, no mail. For months.

I watched this “civilization” collapse. I stood in the silence of what was once our busy street and city and strained to hear any activity at all. It was horrid. The familiar had become foreign, the vibrant activity of hundreds of thousands of people was suddenly silenced. The homes were empty. The cars were motionless.

But we stayed. We were offered opportunities to leave (I am a physician and among the most fortunate ones), but we stayed. We were convinced by some “good people” who really believed we could make a difference, who really wanted to save our world. Their tenacity was empowering, their hopefullness inspirational, their ferocious enthusiam to make things better was a wonderment. People went out and made their own street signs. People filled in pot holes with their own asphalt paid for with their own money. People provided goods and services for free. People sacrificed. The hospital where I work fed its entire workforce (more than 1000 people) three meals a day, free, for an ENTIRE YEAR. The hospital rented out the Mariott Hotel to house people who had lost their homes. I could go on.

My point is this - underneath the groups of people distracted by hundreds of television channels and religious affiliation to sports teams and video game players and the bitter and the angry and the disenfranchised and the immature - underneath all of these groups of people are another group of people who will arise and help make all of this better. They are so good. They are so ready.

But they - we - need inspiration. We need to believe. We need to really believe it makes a difference. That we can make a difference. And that it is urgent. This is what I got from your entry. Against the injustices in Iran or the cyclones and hurricanes, we need to be reminded that our contributions will count. That there is a grand plan. I think we can convince a few - maybe many - of the television watchers that they can make news, not just watch it.

I just wish, really wish it doesn’t take a disaster to awaken us. I considered myself a contributor to the betterment of the world. I considered myself faithful. But I really did need the strength of others to remind me to carry on when things looked so hopeless.

I needed faith, Faith. And it WAS faith - Faith - that changed this little world down here. So, I suppose, will it be Faith, magnified to unmeasurable limits, that really might - CAN - change our world. Each of us, standing up, and inspired by Faith, making our move urgently, happily, selflessly. I’ve seen in happen. I want to see more!

be

However, the keys to resolving the world’s problems are available for all to see in the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh. I say ‘keys’ - actually, I should say ‘key’ (singular). And that key? Unity!

How neatly you put the recent arrests of Bahá’ís in Iran in context! Not so long ago I was sitting in the prison cell in Akka where Bahá’u'lláh was confined for just over two years in the 19th century and reflecting on the frustration He must have felt, knowing that He was the One with the key to the salvation of humankind and he had been locked up by those He characterized as blinded by their own arrogance and self-interest.

I am particularly worried about developments in Iran because the leadership since Ahmadinejad came to power is so much more radical — they seem impervious to outside influence are escalating on all fronts. Everyone nees to pray hard!