Gholamreza Takhti

Takhti (Zorkhaneh)

The heroes of the world are like stars in the sky as different people have different criteria that they use when they judge a hero. In my opinion a hero is a person who has humanitarian qualities, responsibilities towards his\her community, braveness, and selfless.

Takhti was born in Tehran, Iran in 1930. His family was poor, so he could only study until grade 9. He was very much interested in the Iranian national sport which included club swinging, juggling and wrestling. He soon became a very successful wrestler and ultimately a world champion.

There have been many wrestling world champions in Iran, but Thakhti was recognized as a popular champ because he was always ready to serve his community. For example In 1962, a terrible earthquake occurred in western part of Iran, killing 45,000. Takhti was deeply touched by the people suffering and went to the rich business men and collected a lot of contributions for the people who had lost their assets in the earthquake.

Another example of his character comes from a match in Moscow. "After defeating the world champion Anatoli Albul, Takhti saw the sorrow on the face of Albul's mother. Takhti went to her and said, 'I'm sorry about the result, but your son is a great wrestler.' She smiled and kissed him." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gholamreza_Takhti)

"In another match with Russian wrestler Alexander Medved, when Takhti found out that his knee was injured, he never attacked that leg. Instead, he tried to attack the other leg." He lost the match, but proved that fair competition overrides victory. Alexander Medved was deeply impressed by Takhti’s good ethics and used to visit his graves every year in Iran over the years.

He also tried to change the political system in the country and was brave enough to stand against oppression against dictators in Iran. He did not pay any attention to the warnings from the Government Intelligence Service because he had faith in his activities towards democracy. Finally he was arrested and "found dead in his hotel room on January 7, 1968. The Iranian government officially proclaimed his death a suicide. However, some claim that he was murdered because of his political activities" against the regime, accusing the Iranian intelligence agency at that time. As a national hero, thousands participated in his funeral. One newspaper in a special edition of its popular weekly showed Takhti "with angel wings flying high above the throngs of Iranian mourners at his own funeral with a caption saying 'Don't cry for me, cry for your own plight.'" This was a direct reference not only to the plight of the Iranian people under the dictatorial regime of the Shah, but also showed Takhti's democratic beliefs, one of the reasons cited for his mysterious death. (http://wn.com/Category:British_political_magazines)

There have been numerous heroes like Thakhti in the world. They managed to build up their personalities and opinions towards selflessness and loving the others without any conditions or expectations in return. The world nowadays need such people in order to be reformed, and we as teenagers should follow their ways of living in order to be most effective human beings for our communities.