Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story)
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Read between March 24 - April 3, 2025
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The smaller the a...
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more it has to whip itself up into a frenzy. If there’s only one of you, you have to hole up just to keep t...
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hid. They even pretended to be Sunnis if they had to. Nowadays the Muslims who live i...
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the Shiites, and in Oklahoma, they call them the ...
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The main thing to remember is the magic. When people believe something, you can ask them,
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How does the magic happen? And what you’re really asking is, What can I do to be happy? For the Shiites, there’s magic
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in the bloodline of the Prophet. You still have to submit to the rules of Islam, but it...
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The word for those people is “sayyed.” It means “master,” or “holy one.” An...
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have these lists that go, “Muhammad begat this dude, who begat another dude,...
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So they prove they were begotten by the Prophet. They’re closer to God because they pray to their...
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They’re pure. They get invited to all the best parties. Techn...
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entitled to a tenth of your money. But how many Christians do you know who giv...
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And very technically, sayyedi are the only ones allowed to be presidents—you can tell cause they ...
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of course, in the real world, if you’re powerful you can just say you’re sayyed and ...
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Like if a big guy says he’s good at video games, even though you know you’d gank him, you just keep your mouth shut.
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People lie, basically. But who begat you is a question with an answer only
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someone else can ...
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You’re born, and when you’re old enough to understand, they tell you whose child you are. You get...
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born again into something—not the world, but the word, the family name. It’s ...
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about you, whose you are. It’s more important than your race or religion. It’s more important than what...
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of
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you that talks to itself so late at night that you’re not eve...
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It’s the concentrated you...
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in a pool of genetic fluids, creative juice, carbonic goo, passions, past mistakes, memories of ...
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sweets, the intense desire to visit Italy, habits, the smell of your fart—all together in a thick maple ...
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Your blood. That’s you. The truest thing about you. To the Shiite Muslims of Iran, the sayyed...
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because the blood in their veins was Muhammad’s, and the blood in his was God’s. Thi...
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that a sayyed would turn away...
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Knowing about yourself, about your family, knowing the name of a grandpa and saying it out loud so he can hear it. It’s probably the
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thing kids in Oklahoma treasure most. They hide it, of course, the way you should hide your most valuable thing. But I bet
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they walk around with a treasure chest full of clear memories. And the chest has their family name en...
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their chest. The memories are in their heart. Their hearts are full. I bet. Full of something that isn...
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A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee. I don’t even know if the strange ol...
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relative or something. All I have is her touching my face. The rest...
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How can you explain why you believe anything? So I just say
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what my mom says when people ask her. She looks them in the eye with the begging hope
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that they’ll hear her and she says, “Beca...
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Why else would she be...
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It’s true and it’s more valuable than seven million dollars in gold coins, and thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and ten years of education to ...
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and a home, and the best cream puffs of Jolfa, and eve...
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My mom wouldn’t have made the tra...
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If you believe it’s true, that there is a God and He wants you to believe in Him and He sent His Son to die for you—then it has to take over your life. It...
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because heaven’s waiting on the...
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That or Sima is insane. There’s no middle. You can’t say it’s a qu...
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sometimes, cause she went all the...
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If it’s not true, she made a gi...
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But she doesn’t t...
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She had all that wealth, the love of all those people she helped in her clinic. They treated her like a queen. She ...
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she’ll
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tell you—it’s worth it. Jesus is better.
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