A PERSONAL POST ON THE PASSING OF A FORMER MUJAHADEEN
I'll be attending a memorial service today for a dear Afghan friend who died this week of cancer, Sayed Hashemayer. He and the men in his family fought bravely on the side of freedom and justice in the Afghan war against the Communists. He migrated to the US after the Russians left and put three great kids on the earth, started a successful business in Canoga Park and brought his large extended family to California. Sayed was the kind of immigrant who made the US a great nation. We need more of his kind. He asked for nothing, achieved greatly through his own effort and intellect and was generous to a fault. The civic body has been diminished.

Half way down the trail to Hell
In a shady, meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good, old-time canteen,
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.

May the eternal one deliver Sayed to his Fiddler's Green.