High school graduation is an exciting event for most teenagers in North America. It is the first major step into adulthood.

While graduation is a normal achievement in Western countries, I know that in other parts of the world, high school graduation is NOT a realizable goal.

High school in Iran was dangerous for me in the 1980’s. I was deprived of what I thought was my ‘right’ to continue my studies and my life was threatened just because I wanted to be able to express myself freely. I was only 15 years old when I was forced to follow the rules of the Ayatollah on what I was allowed to learn, which books I could read, what music I was allowed to listen to, and how to dress. The penalty of non-compliance ranged from arrest to execution. There were spies everywhere, even at school. Sadly, one of those spies turned out to be my best friend.

As a result, going to school was no longer an option, and living at home wasn’t safe. For over a year, I drifted between the houses of friends and relatives in other cities until I had no other place to go but home, where I lived in hiding for many more months. All of this at 17 years of age! I resolved never to give up hope. It was then that my parents had to decide if a lifetime of hiding and repression was the only way for us, or if smuggling us out of Iran, despite all kinds of dangers and possible death, would be a viable alternative.

I lived as a homeless refugee in Pakistan for eight long months, yearning to go to school without any hope of achieving this goal until I finally arrived in Montreal, Canada in 1983. I could barely speak any English and not a word of French. Despite the fact that I had no family in Canada to support me, and I had only myself to depend on to earn a living, I felt so rich because my dream of freedom was realized! I had crossed mountains, the desert and an ocean to be free to express myself. I wanted so desperately to go to school and to make a contribution to society that any obstacle I encountered was simply a reminder to try a little harder.

And I did it!

I am now a successful professional and a perpetual student. And, thirty four years later, my son is preparing to graduate from high school. It is such an exhilarating feeling to know that the class of 2014 has all the freedom to choose their future. This inspired me to document my life experiences, a task which has occupied the last five years of my life. To remind others not to take their freedom and education for granted, I wrote “Fleeing The Hijab, A Jewish Woman’s Escape From Iran”, in which I describe, in detail, the circumstances that forced me to flee and eventually led me to Canada.

Each graduating class should be aware that throughout history, even up to this very day, there are people like myself, who have put their lives in jeopardy in order to be able to express themselves freely and to obtain an education. Be proud of what you have achieved; acknowledge the people who faced adversity to make this possible for you.

Here is my message for new graduates: Follow your heart! Meet challenges head on! Remember how privileged you are to have the freedom to realize and fulfill your dreams. And don’t forget to carry the torch for those not as fortunate as you in other parts of the world, by working harder, by challenging yourself and by raising your standards to a higher level.

Hopefully, every child will someday soon be allowed to go to school, to continue his or her education, and fully realize his or her potential, as you students do today.

Never give up on your dreams. The sky is the limit.

—

Dr. Sima Goel is the author of Fleeing the Hijab, A Jewish Woman’s Escape from Iran, the true story of Sima’s life under oppression and her harrowing journey to freedom. (ISBN 9781771230506), published by General Store Publishing House, Renfrew ON.