Tonight we read Olya's story of her imprisonment and torture for Baha'u'llah, as told in a back issue of Brilliant Star Magazine. Silvie was inspired, as often happens, to retell aspects of the story that strike her as amusing in comics.
Olya dreams of what is about to happen. Abdu'l-Baha figures in the dream. She is arrested by revolutionary guards in front of her three year old son. He holds onto the car door, screaming to have his mummy back. He is a strong kid and it takes two big guards to drag him off the handle. A bit of gallows humor in the midst of tragedy.
A fourteen year old's idea of tough conditions in the prison in Shiraz. Olya is served three spears of broccoli. Baha'i history is full of martyrdoms, and we read some every day. Silvie once confided in me: "I like to draw my childish pictures so that I will not feel too sad when I hear of what happened."
Yes, there was torture. The Master had warned Olya of this in her dream, and in telling the story to kids she is upbeat and emphasizes what she learned from it.
A child in the Brilliant Star interview asks if Olya had any photos of her childhood. "No, they were all confiscated by the Revolutionary Guards. Silvie imagines the guards following Olya around during her entire childhood, grabbing every snapshot as it is taken. Unfortunately, such intrusiveness is not too far off the mark.
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