Who Is a Good Friend?

One day I asked Agha Bozorg, “Who is a good friend?” He lit a cigarette. “A friend deserves to be treated with respect. “When your head is down, a friend doesn’t walk past and say, ‘You don’t seem well, so I’ll leave you alone.’ A friend comes over, taps you on the shoulder, and says, ‘Hey! Lift your head. You’ve got this. I’m here, my friend.’” “Who, for instance?” He went to the cupboard, brought out a photograph, and said, “Look at this. “This is what a friend is. The whole world turned its back on the Shahanshah Aryamehr. His own people treated him without respect. On a day when he was full of sorrow and pain, this man reached out his hand and said, ‘My friend, hold your head high.’ “He stayed beside the Shah until the last day of his life, and in the end he laid him to rest, for a time, in his own soil. Until the day when...” “Until the day when what, Agha Bozorg?” “I may not live to see it. But until the day you young people understand what that friendship means and become good friends to this country and to Reza Shah II.” Long live Iran. Long live the Shah. Rest in peace, Shahanshah Aryamehr.