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I have received the attached piece from someone in Tehran, Iran who does not wish his identity to be revealed. I feel the contents of his letter will be of interest to your readers:

"I was born in the 1990s to Muslim parents near a fire temple in Tehran. Being of Zoroastrian descent, we were also called after our toponymic (geographic) surname until just 100 years ago when our ancestors converted to Islam.

"It is our parents who make us Zoroastrian, Jew, Christian, Muslim or polytheistic. Our parents expect us to follow their own way. As children, we are not strong enough in the early stages of life to resist or oppose their will.

"At the age of 15, I suffered from a chronic, autoimmune disease of the liver. At 18, I was admitted to university. I chose to study human sciences despite the fact that I was physically sick. I studied as hard as I could because I found time the most valuable thing one can possess, and became one of the best in my field.

"The liver ailment continued, and after 10 years of agony I was told that I may no longer be viable for a transplant as my chances of survival were slim. As terrible as this was, I understood that valuable organs cannot and should not be wasted. However, I chose to live. And since liver transplantation is the only proven long-term solution, I underwent this surgery nearly 10 years later. My liver became the only healthy organ in my body as everything else was shutting down.

"That’s when Zoroastrianism came into my life. Zoroaster taught us that each person has the freedom to choose good or evil in the choices he/she makes. For example, choosing to tell the truth rather than to tell a lie indicates that a person has chosen good over evil. He taught us that there is an eternal afterlife, and the choices made by each person determine his/her destiny in this afterlife.

"We have the personal responsibility of choosing well. We have a choice between spirit and matter, between the real and the unreal, between light and darkness.

"It’s only now, by living by these three principles of good thoughts, good words, good deeds, that I have found serenity and the true meaning of existence."