The fourth session of the 62nd round of the Academy Branch Workshops was held on April 25th, 2018 at 09:45 a.m. This meeting was held by Master Dezhakam as the master of ceremony and Mr. Hamed as the secretary. The weekly agenda was “How do we appreciate [Congress60’s services]?”.
Hello friends, I am Hossein, a traveler. Today’s agenda is how we appreciate [services] of Congress60. It means how we thank [people or things serving us]. I remember this poem as appreciation comes about: “when you are thankful, your gifts will increase, and if you are ungrateful, you will lose the gifts”. Last week, I wrote to Prof. William White that we have faced a severe cold weather in spring in Iran which destroyed many crops including apples. In response, he has written that “we have also faced some drought in southern Florida and as a result have had many brush fires due to the dryness and some of our crops have also suffered. These weather extremes seem to become more common as a result of our disrespecting mother earth”. All of the disasters are the results of not being grateful to the mother earth [nature]. We do not respect human beings, we do not respect nature. It is mentioned in holy Quran that some gardeners decided to harvest their crops in dawn to prevent the poor from coming and asking for some supply. When they came to their gardens to harvest the crops, they observed that everything was burned and nothing remained. It is mentioned that since they had not helped the poor, they had to suffer this loss. In the past, as I remember, when farmers gathered their crops, they put aside some of the crops for the poor, but what do we do today? In this spring, the temperature fell down to -8 °C, which means the destruction of all fruit trees. The bad and the good will be burnt together [when destruction comes, it does not discriminate between the good and bad]. All of these happen due to our ungratefulness. If you are hospitalized in a hospital, you have to pay over 10000 dollars which costs you more than staying in a five-star hotel. You have seen mendacious propaganda for weight-loss [slimming] pills that have been approved by FDA or some other pills to treat addiction. They claim they have treated half of addicted population of the world with a type of pill. The United States is a great country with civilization, but you see many lies and corruption are advertised there. Now, we have to correct this path. We have established such a place that thousands of people are serving others [without being paid]. No one believes that in Congress60, no one is paid for their services. All of these people are serving others with mere love, should not we thank this system- Congress60? Shouldn’t we appreciate the people working in this place? Congress60 saves people’s lives, strengthens families, and took them away of darkness. Then, how can we thank Congress60?
A man was weeping beside his dying dog. A passenger asked him why he was crying. The man said: “my dog is dying of hunger.” The passenger asked: “haven’t you got anything to feed it?” the man answered: yes, I have some bread. The passenger asked: “why don’t give it some bread?”. The man answered: “because it is easier to weep than to give it some bread of mine!”
Some people act the same, they say we are tongueless to thank our guides, our guides have saved our lives but as they want to thank their guide, they put a very old and outdated note in an envelope and sometimes they give me an empty envelope! It does not matter for me [but it is not a grateful action].
In Congress60, thanksgiving is done via envelopes [of money]. We have four ceremonies a year [for thanksgiving]. You have to appreciate your guide. Before the treatment, one has had a colitis (which is a disease that makes inflammation and sores in the intestine) and had to go to WC 20 times a day, it means that he could not stop or control his excrement. If he had not been treated in Congress60, he had to undergo an operation and cut his intestine and pay over 8000 dollars and at last, he would not get cured. He has been cured after three years of treatment in Congress60 and for his liberation from addiction, he gave me a pen! In return for that extraordinary things, he has given me a pen! I do not need your money or anything else. Just I give you these examples to know although everything is free, you have to be grateful. We have an expression in Farsi saying when you get cured, do not annoy your doctor.
In return for Congress60’s services, have you paid anything for Money-donation week? Have you ever thanked anyone, who is serving in Congress60? A guide is not in need of your money, but we have to be grateful. We have to have keen eyes [to see their services]. For this week [guides’ week], you have to prepare yourself two months earlier. I insist on thanking guides because if you appreciate guides, in future other people will be volunteer to serve people in these positions including guides’, border-guards’, assistants’ or agents’. We have to respect these positions, we have to value these positions so that others willingly want to serve in these positions. That is why we say you have to thank them. You have to do it optimally in any celebrations.
Isfahanis are discerning and generous people; I do not know why they are called stingy. Some of Isfahani pupils of mine have gifted me with a hand-made carpet. Another lady gifted me with a cupper cup, on which she had spent a year to prepare and she had decorated it with Turquoise stones. Pupils from Hidaj bring me grape juice and from Zanjan, they have brought me copper pots. One lady had put 300 pieces of woods together to make an image for the “Shower in Desert” (an image of the book “Crossing the Zone of 60 Degrees Below Zero”). She had worked to make it ready for one year so that on her liberation day, she could present it to me as a gift. Another pupil of mine made a silk carpet with my image. She had made hundreds of thousands of knots to prepare this carpet to present to me for her liberation from addiction. However, some people do not understand the value of the efforts made for them and on the day of liberation, they just look for an old note to put in an envelope and give to me or their guide. It is another type of appreciation [the lowest type].
Congress60 members have best helped Congress60 and I told you the above-mentioned points not to complain but to learn. When we draw a check, always we have had enough deposit. We have never bought a thing for Congress60 by hire-purchase or installment plan and we also help different places a lot. Fortunately, all branches are working well and I want them to become better. We have a large task and duty to do. We are not here to give [the addicts a cold-turkey], but we are opening the path of addiction treatment. We are making a path in mountains [a very hard work] to set our people and people around the world free from addiction. We are responsible to create this path. Our aim is to cure addition and other diseases. We have a burden on our shoulders and we can carry it with each other’s assistance.
Nowadays, no one smokes cigarettes in Congress60 and all the members do sports. None of guides and those who serve in Congress60 smoke at all.
I hope you remember and know to appreciate [those serving you]. I am gratified at your performance. The guides have to teach their pupils how to appreciate Congress60. In Border-guards week, you have to teach them how to thank the border guards. I hope we learn this issue and be grateful to Congress60, Congress60’s members, our father, mother, children, friends, our nation and any one who serves us.
Thank you for listening to me.
Translated by Elahe
