This week, I attended a concert by an Iranian folklore music Band called “Rastak.” It was a memorable night filled with cheerful folklore songs and music from across Iran.

The concert was a beautiful display of the Iranian diversity. Iran is a country comprising dozens of ethnicities including Lurs, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkmans, Azeris, Arabs, etc., each having their own culture and language or dialect.

Sitting at the concert and seeing how vibrantly the audience was singing and dancing to the Kurdish melodies, I wondered who we really are: people fighting each other on social media and in political debates or people who love each other and their culture with all its varieties and colours.

Sometimes, we are so consumed with political disagreements and misinformation that all we focus on are our differences. We often forget how connected and close we are. We are a nation that has lived together for over five thousand years. All ethnicities living in Iran have been coexisting on the Persian Plateau from the very beginning of their history. Not only that, but even other ethnicities who are currently considered separate nations, such as Afghans and Tajiks, also share the same culture and language and were once part of the great Persia.

That night reminded me of our true identity as cheerful and peace-loving people. We are people who enjoy dancing and singing together both men and women, people who use any opportunity to come together and celebrate. Although this character of ours has been continuously oppressed and attacked by difficult circumstances and incidents throughout history, we still keep it within us and express it whenever we get the chance.

I am not claiming that we are an exceptional nation. To the contrary, I believe that we are ordinary people who enjoy a normal, ordinary life like any other human beings—a life that allows us to be ourselves and express our joys, sadness, love, and fears.

However, the exceptional political circumstances that have been enforced on us not just in the last 46 years but repeatedly throughout history have left wounds on our collective memory and brought out the worst in us.

In the last 46 years, we have been forced to live a life that has deprived us of all the little ordinary joys. We have been forced to become characters of a show that depicts an upside-down world. A world in which love, happiness, dance, and music are bad and forbidden; a world in which sorrow, poverty, and suffering are celebrated.

Our dignity has been invaded and humiliated on a daily basis in the last 46 years.

Our most private affairs have been investigated and policed.

From the moment we leave our houses, we are humiliated by having to conform to the most inhuman laws, whether written or unwritten.

The worst that can be done to a human being is forcing them not to be their true selves.

Viewing the situation of Iranian people in this context, it is no surprise that political anger and frustrations abound among us.

However, we must remember that at our core, we are a people who cherish togetherness, celebration, and the joy of life. This essence remains unbroken, waiting for the moment it can freely shine once again.