There are good reasons to be thinking about the Iranian
people on this Ninth Day of July in the Year 2003, some
political and of more-than-political consequence, others
religious and more contemplative in scope. Yet the need
today in particular is for empathy with all Iranians for
the deep-felt loss of two of them, Ladan and Laleh Bijani.
Headlines say it simple: Twins Die. Their pictures and
an interview seen once, help to fill in the story of their
courage and perseverance together and their ambitions
just as large, yet separate. The two adult twins, bridged
at the head from birth, will be known for that and
the surgery recent elected to take the bridge apart.
Still, you want not to reduce them to That, for Ladan
wanted to be an attorney so she finished law school,
so her sister did too, naturally, though her own drive
was to be a journalist. Plainly, there was luster there
and deep desires for freedom to pursue different goals,
which for each of them meant separation, disunion, and
they fought hard in concert to make that happen.
United by dying as never before in living, their respective
faces show high regard for one another, easy to notice.
It's not hard to imagine, either, the craving for privacy,
solitude, alone time, breathing room apart from another's
pulse, that most people take for granted.
Their story must include, of course, the highly technical
focus but also the sharp pain of the physicians' grief,
all who wanted only to heal, yet in the end killed the twins
with The Final Cut.
The Associated Press reporters covering this story tell
the moment with words no other word could improve.
In The Birmingham News the byline shows D'ARCY
DORAN, and the words to quote are plain.
Surrounded by a dozen nurses and technicians,
surgeons stood Tuesday on either side of the sisters
as the final cut was made.
The blood started flowing uncontrollably the instant
the surgeon cut through the point where the bottom of
the brain touched the bone. One doctor said it was like
a fountain. . . . [Another is quoted,] At least we helped
them achieve their dream of being separate.
The surgery could have been halted at various points
along the hazardous journey across that bridge.
But after consultation with friends who knew best
the wishes of The Two, surgeons continued past the point
of no return, beyond their hands and beyond even their
own dreams.
page next
