Neda--Not Just Another Face

I watch Neda Agha Soltan die. I am no where near her when she dies, and I don't even see it until days after it happens. I nonetheless witness her last moments on earth. I watch as the men carry her to the side of the road and lay her down, and someone presses his hands against her chest to stop the bleeding. I watch as she looks directly at the person who's filming her with the cell phone--looking directly at the would-be audience of thousands around the world, looking directly at me--before she herself looks into the face of death, her sometime beautiful visage contorted into a haunting expression. It is not a serene expression of surrender, nor peace at meeting one's Maker (though we pray that is what she has now found). No, it's a look of indescribable pain and shock, like she feels her shattered heart finally give out and realizes this moment is her last. Blood erupts from her nose and mouth, and a man cradles her and shouts for her to stay with him. I know from his tone that he knows she's already gone.

I have seen people die before, in movies, in games, in photos, and even on video, but never have I seen the look of death recreated nor captured as succinctly as in this pixelated cell phone footage, and it will not soon leave me. Her death is not isolated, nor is her cause unique. Many unjust deaths go unwitnessed, and far too many deaths are witnessed because of their violent nature. One should die in privacy with loved ones, not in the middle of a crowded street. But once in a while everyone needs to be reminded of the price of a human life, and the high cost of violence for any cause, be it just or unjust, so that we don't look at Neda or those like her and see just another face.