I asked and got permission to write about my friend Dominique Rodier,
who has a Ph.D. in linguistics.
Dominique is Canadian,
I never met her face to face, but I followed her for over a decade on Twitter and considered her my teacher.
For over a decade, Dominique has been sharing human rights reports from the Islamic Republic of Iran and news of arrests, sentences, and executions.
For over a decade, Dominique earnt her reputation as one of the most reliable sources of human rights violations in the Islamic of Iran.
How did she manage to do it for so long? What is her secret?
Writing about human rights violations in Iran is a rather depressing ordeal.
The Islamic Republic of Iran constantly provides news of atrocities and brutality. These reports take a toll on the well-being of those who collect them, share them, or get exposed to them
Dominique is a disabled warrior and a wounded activist.
She has Fibromyalgia.
When the toll of cruelty and brutality of the reports becomes too high to tolerate, Dominique goes under her shell, covered by her chronic fatigue.
Her body forces her to take a break and rest when exposed to a pernicious amount of evil. Chronic fatigue doesn’t just disable her but also enables her to do things deemed impossible for other people.
Many people dealing with the issue of human rights in Iran are somewhat shady.
Many have a particular interest or agenda in it,
there are plenty of bad actors, but Dominique isn’t one of them.
Dominique verifies her sources and establishes trust between her followers through the dedication of years,
and she never fails to give the proper credit when she quotes people.
I learned from Dominique how to humbly grant people the pleasure of being heard. I watched her digital interactions and copied her methods.
She didn’t ask for praise, acknowledgment, or gratitude for anything she did. She never asked for support, even during difficult times, and never made herself the center of the conversation.
I bet she will be embarrassed to know how much I admire her.
Leave a Reply