Homi D. Gandhi, President FEZANA delivered these concluding remarks at the end of the 32nd FEZANA AGM in Orlando, Florida.
Sisters and Brothers,
Over the past three days of this AGM, I have been excited to learn more about all of the achievements of FEZANA and its Committees, member associations, and corresponding members. As we celebrate our work, we must also continue to think ahead. We are at a juncture where we should be able to “dare mighty things”, make progress by leaps and bounds, towards our objectives.
We are already on this path:
FEZANA and member associations are not just benefiting from membership dues, but also large legacy donations – an indication that we are doing good work that individual Zoroastrians appreciate and value!
Our communities are building new community centers and Atash Kadehs all across our continent. Our smaller member associations are not letting their size deter them either! They are continuing to lay the groundwork for their centers and places of worship, and we will continue to support them!
FEZANA’s work in the interfaith arena has increased awareness of FEZANA and our community in the outside world. Our participation here, especially in the UN CSW & Annual NGO meetings, must not stop at advocacy (HUKTA). It should be followed up with action (HVARASHTA)!
Similarly, our work within our global Zoroastrian community, should focus on fostering harmony (HAMAZORI) by building strong relationships between various Zarathushti groups as we are doing in Orlando during this week. FEZANA and our member associations successfully educate us about Zoroastrianism within our community and beyond. And while it is
heartening that part of this education involves the passing down of cultural identity through language – the teaching of Gujarati and Farsi – it is important to communicate in our common language – English – if we truly wish to build bridges within our culturally diverse global community.
Academic institutions are keen on studying literature in our ancestral languages – Avesta, Pahlavi and Gujarati. There is also academic interest in excavating archeological sites along the Silk Road where the Persian Empires ruled for over a millennium. We saw such presentations of the excavations and photographs by Dr. Alison Betts and David Adams respectively at the last World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth. These academics can bring us new knowledge about our ancestors and our religion. The only way to meaningfully support this work is to fund it. No other community is going to do that! We have to take the lead.
So, can we do it? Do we have the guts to boldly forge ahead and achieve our vision?
When I observe a “small corresponding group” like the Central Florida Zoroastrian Community successfully host not one AGM, but 3 events at the same time, I am reassured that our “can do” attitude is very much alive and well! Its in our DNA!
So, of course, we can dare mighty things! Of course, we can achieve our vision! And, of course, we are going to keep on going on this path to our objectives!
No one else is going to get us there…. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!
May Ahura Mazda Bless our Zarathushti community all over the world!
Atha Zamiyaad, Yatha Afrinami!
Homi D Gandhi, President
May 5, 2019
