Excerpts from the Supreme Leader's Speech in a Meeting with Teachers

Excerpts from the Supreme Leader's Speech in a Meeting with Teachers
On May 6, 2015

The essence of teaching is really pure. Any environment in which teachers are present will undoubtedly enjoy divine mercy and blessings. I hope that God will bestow success on you so that both you teachers and educational officials can carry out this great responsibility in the best way possible.

This week has been named "Teachers' Week" in commemoration of our dear and great teacher, the late Ayatollah Motahhari.

Shahid Motahhari had many unique characteristics, but in my opinion, the most important characteristic of his personality was teaching. He was a teacher in Islamic seminaries, in universities and in the ordinary environment of life. His speeches were a lesson because he was pure and diligent. I saw up close instances of his scholarly efforts. He used to have notes for all subject matters. He showed me packs of his writings about different matters. At that time, I was surprised at his patience, enthusiasm, persistence and diligence. Well, this is why today - after the passage of 35 years from the martyrdom of that man - his books and his words are still alive. Today, his books and his statements continue to be valuable for our young generation and researchers.

The future of the country and our world is dependent on the effort that the educational system makes today. This is not an unimportant matter. We have no other organization which is so important. Of course, people study in universities and Islamic seminaries and they are cultivated in social environments as well, but the influential role of teachers is irreplaceable. The role that teachers can play in influencing the intellectual and psychological build up of today's children - who are going to be men and women of our future - has no equal.

The educational system has the highest level of contact with the living environment of the people. You have about 13 million students. Including their parents - who constitute 26 million people - it becomes 39 million people. And if you add the one million teachers and personnel of the educational system, then about 40 million people are in contact with this organization. Which other organization do you know that enjoys such a high and important level of contact with society? These are the reasons why we place great emphasis on the educational system.

What do teachers want to do? I have written it down. They want to produce a generation which enjoys these characteristics: piety, self-confidence, hopefulness, enthusiasm, physical and psychological health, optimism, determination, frugality and contribution. Teachers want to cultivate such a generation. This is not a minor responsibility. When it is said that teachers do what prophets do, we should pay attention to the depth of this statement. What does it mean? "He sent among them a messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the signs of Allah, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom" [The Holy Quran, 3: 164]. This is what prophets used to do. Their job was to save humanity and to create a lofty and noble human community. This was the prophets' job.

War on Yemen
The move that the Saudi government is making in Yemen cannot be justified by any logic and argument. If someone sends an airplane to another country saying, "Why do you want such and such a person to rule? Why not such and such a person?" and if they decide to strike the people, target infrastructure, commit crimes, kill women and children and set everywhere on fire, there is no justification in this. And the Americans are supporting this unjustifiable move and this great crime.

Can dishonor and disgrace exist at a higher level than this? Today, America has no honor and dignity in the eyes of regional peoples. Everyone is watching this situation. The Americans are outspokenly saying that they support this move and they are not embarrassed at all. Then, they say to us, "Why do you send help [to the people of Yemen]?" We wanted to send pharmaceutical aid. We wanted to send drugs for the sick. We did not want to send weapons because they do not need any. All Yemeni military bases and armies are in the hands of revolutionary people and this group "Ansarullah". They do not need our weapons. We wanted to send them drugs, but you laid a pharmaceutical siege on a people. You laid a food and energy siege on them and then you say, "No one should help them".

You did not even allow the Red Crescent to provide some services. This is while they [Americans] themselves give military information to the Saudis. They give them weapons and resources and they provide them with political encouragement. They have no honor and reputation whatsoever. The path that the people of Iran have chosen is a reasonable, solid and promising path. Much to the dissatisfaction of the enemies, this path will produce results and the people of Iran will be successful. Then, the enemies will see that they have failed to reach their vicious goals against the people of Iran.

* For the full speech, refer to khamenei.ir