Faraz’s story
I always asked myself:
What is the most effective thing I can do with my life to make the world a better place?
The answer wasn’t easy to find. In 2010, I was the president of the music club at my university, the University of Tehran in Iran. I’m a classically trained pianist, but I play other instruments, like the accordion, bagpipes, organ, etc.
One day, a musician who was also into theater asked me to join their Clinic Clown band—a group inspired by Patch Adams that went to hospitals to perform for children.
I had precisely ZERO experience in performance aside from music. They told me not to worry and just to bring my accordion!
At that time, I was working on my BSc in Chemical Engineering. Initially, my research focused on Enhanced Oil Recovery. But I was disheartened by the environmental damage caused by oil and oil spills. So I changed my research focus to green energy and biofuel.
However, I still didn’t feel fulfilled. So when I was offered the chance to go to hospitals and help children fighting cancer, I did not hesitate. As an introvert, it was very difficult for me to be funny, act, and play music in a room full of children suffering from cancer, many of whom were terminally ill.
Playing accordion with our clinic clown team in a children cancer hospital was what originally motivated me to become a biomedical scientist and study cancer and other diseases.
Sometimes on my way back home, I cried, thinking some of my favorite children might not be there the next week when I returned. We knew we shouldn't get attached to those kids. But for me, sometimes it was impossible. I am human, after all. As I was trying to figure out the next step in my life, this question nagged at me again:
Is this the best thing you can do with your life?
It felt like if I studied cancer, I could have a bigger impact in saving those children’s lives. I wanted to save humans!
Watch this video to hear my story,and how I think human rights and animal rights are connected!
The iconic main entrance of University of Tehran during our peaceful human rights protests.
The time I almost got killed
At this time, a peaceful pedestrian came closer to us from outside. He raised his arm and made a victory symbol with his hand. This is when all hell broke loose. Paramilitary forces attacked the poor man and started beating him with batons on the head.
Shocked and furious, students started to throw books and bags at the paramilitary forces. Then the anti-riot police threw tear gas at us. The situation was worsening every second.
I learned a couple of my friends in my music band were kidnapped. We didn’t see them for months and after they came back, they had become different people from whatever they experienced in Iran’s prisons.
We inhaled so much tear gas that we had to fall back and move away from the gate as paramilitary forces started to get closer and break through the gate. I remember running while my eyes and nose were on fire, drooling uncontrollably, gasping for fresh air. I got separated from my friends.
I had to find another way out or find my department and hide somewhere. As I was running, I noticed police vans parked all around outside the university, covering all the gates, waiting to arrest students. I decided to run to my department in the College of Engineering.
Moments before I was chased with a machete, paramilitary forces attacked a peaceful and innocent protestor.
Suddenly, a group of people appeared in front of me. I stopped running and froze. They didn’t look like students. This happened so fast, and the next thing I remember is one of them raising his hand with a machete, cursing at me, and running towards me.
I turned around and ran as fast as I ever have, with him chasing me with a machete just 10-20 feet away. Luckily, there was a university security building, and they let me in and saved my life.
I remember still shaking an hour later when I made my way home. I couldn’t believe I almost died. Next day I learned a couple of my friends in my music band were kidnapped. We didn’t see them for months and after they came back, they had become different people from whatever they experienced in Iran’s prisons.
This experience was eye-opening and gave me more fuel to fight for liberation.
Execution of people like me
A few years later, after the incident, I finally came out as gay. I had been in denial my whole life, fighting who I was, thinking I was sick, and being ashamed of myself. That was the hardest part of it. If you don’t know, homosexuality can be punishable by death in Iran, and it is a HUGE taboo. You would NEVER talk about it, and the internet was also filtered. So my whole life up to that point, I wondered what was wrong with me and why I was so different from other guys.
I came out in the U.S., which was one of the most liberating experiences of my life, and I love this country for giving me the opportunity to be myself and speak freely. But I had another dilemma. If I wanted to talk about LGBT rights in Iran, that would mean I could never go back to Iran.
"Don’t let them control who you are and what you say, even when you are not here. Be free, speak your mind, and fight for causes important to you. Don’t let them stop you. And don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine."
One day, I called my mom, who is in Iran. With a shaking voice, I told her I was gay. She said, "I know! But thanks for trusting me and letting me know!" I was in complete disbelief! To this day, I have no idea how she knew. Every time I asked, she just said, "because I’m your mom."
I told her that I’d like to come out publicly and talk about my experience because I bet there are more confused and lost people like me. But I was worried that if I did so, I could never go back to Iran and possibly never see her again. I was also worried that she would be harassed because of my big mouth.
She said one of the most impactful things I’ve ever heard: "Don’t let them control who you are and what you say, even when you are not here [Iran]. Be free, speak your mind, and fight for causes important to you. Don’t let them [Iran’s dictator regime] stop you. And don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine."
To this day, I tear up when I think about it. But I took that to heart. Yes, I will speak up in the face of injustice because:
In the face of injustice, silence is NOT an option.
Veganism, for the first time, brought three things together that I was always passionate about: saving human lives, saving the environment, and saving animals.
After college, I found myself in a frustrating spot. The number of causes I cared about was increasing—from human rights to poverty to cancer and the environment. They seemed seemingly unrelated.
Eventually, I decided to continue my education in cancer research. I earned my MS at one of the best cancer centers in the U.S. Then I got my PhD in biomedicine and spent a few years developing therapeutics for cancer, influenza, COVID-19, and other zoonotic diseases. My critical research results were deemed an extraordinary contribution to the U.S. national interest, and I was awarded permanent residency as a result. However, the same question kept boggling me:
Is this the best you can do?
Is there nothing more impactful? Is that it?
Flashback a couple of years: one day, a dear friend told me, "Faraz, you can't say you love animals and eat them too!" I was mad at her at first, but it made me think. I loved meat and cheese as much as most people, and it was very difficult for me to imagine not eating them! I grew up being told that I needed to eat bone marrow and meat to stay healthy. (Spoiler alert, that's not how it works!)
I remember telling myself I love meat so much that I can never live without it.
This was later replaced with cheese when I went vegetarian. Ugh 🙈. When I was presented with facts and also saw what animals go through for meat, egg, dairy, wool, experimentation, etc. the only rational and ethical decision was to go vegan.
Veganism really opened my eyes to a whole new issue in the world that had been in my blind spot. Today, I can't believe I didn't see it sooner and why it took me so long to figure it out.
Veganism was the solution I was looking for my whole life!
For the first time, there was something that aligned with my passion for saving animals, the environment, and people! I remember I used to dream that one day I would reduce cancer deaths by a fraction of a percentage (which is significant). But later, I learned that 40% of cancers are preventable, yet we don't talk about it. Another mind-boggling fact was that even if I cured all cancers, the number one cause of death would still be cardiovascular diseases, which are almost entirely preventable.
I want to make veganism something that brings people together instead of dividing us. I want people from any profession, any age, any country, and any religion to see the urgency for the world to go vegan and change the food system.
A plant-based diet can eliminate and even reverse the progression of the top causes of death. This means if I'm successful in my mission, and more people eat plant-based, I will save more lives than if I cured all cancers!
Because abusing animals for food is one of the leading causes of environmental destruction and climate change, preventing that will benefit every single human and non-human animal in the world, whether they are a patient or a healthy person, a dog or a bee. Eating plant-based will significantly reduce the risk of pandemics and zoonotic diseases I was trying to find a cure for!
Why isn’t anyone talking about this? Why did it take me so long to figure this out?
So I made it my mission to bring this education to all the young and bright minds who care about other people, the planet, the climate, and the environment. And I made it my mission to ensure every student gets a chance to learn about the benefits of a plant-based diet and veganism.
I want to make veganism something that brings people together instead of dividing us. I want people from any profession, any age, any country, and any religion to see the urgency for the world to go vegan and change the food system.
Veganism isn't just this arbitrary cause that I suddenly became interested in. It’s been the best decision of my life. My only regret is that I wish someone had educated me and opened my eyes sooner. I want to be that person for other people, especially students, and especially if they dedicate their lives and careers to promoting veganism just like myself.
Will you join me in transforming the animal advocacy and vegan movement in universities, and helping me build a kind, healthy, and nonviolent world?
:)