November 27, 2025
Dear Hossein,
I am delighted with each communication to hear that you are doing well. I continue to improve in health and energy each week.
Traveling to Qeshm Island and to Isfahan and Mashhad must have been quite inspiring. What an experience it must be for you to see what one man’s resurrection has wrought! From that seed, untold harvests have flowed.
I liked your comparison of NGOs to the human body. Unfortunately, many NGOs in the U.S. grew fat over the years through their dependence on the flow of government dollars. This left them unfit to weather the current storm of funding cuts. NGOs acted without regard for the future as if the money would flow exponentially without effort on their part. And many became more concerned with their profits and their image than what happened in the lives of the people they were pledged to serve. This left them unprepared for new government leadership lacking in empathy and responsiveness to the needs of its people. People will pay a dear price for that arrogance and overconfidence for years to come in my country, but some NGOs may lose money but recapture their souls in this process.
I have continued to work since my last letter on a paper on flourishing in addiction recovery. I cannot express to you how inspired I am by this subject, which I first thought about when observing the wide range of fulfilling activities within Congress 60. I am nearly done with a review of all the scientific literature on growth arising from addiction adversity and recovery and have begun reflecting and journaling on my own observations of people who “got better than well” after initiating recovery from addiction. I will keep you posted on my progress with this paper and share an early draft with you when it is completed.
Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. This is also the time each year that I thank you for our continued friendship and collaborations that have so enriched my life. I feel as if we are two old warriors waging not war but healing and peace. It has been a joy to have you metaphorically by my side as we try to open the world’s eyes to the transformative power of addiction recovery and the potential of families and communities to also experience healing and health. You have been a faithful partner on this journey of advocacy and that would not have been possible without the support we have both received from our families and our recovery communities. This is a week we can also thank them.
Friends and brothers forever,