Detachment The film Detachment, featuring a remarkable performance by Adrien Brody—whom you may have seen in The Pianist—tells the story of a teacher who decides to take responsibility for being a teacher and, within the limits of his capacity, to change human beings and the world. The excerpt I have chosen to share with you, which I have translated and subtitled as best I could, is one of the most beautiful moments in the film. Henry, the teacher and hero of our story, teaches young minds—each carrying within itself seeds of greatness—why reading and thinking matter for protecting the independence of our individual minds, which are under attack from every direction. The title of the film, Detachment, is usually translated into Persian as “separation,” which may not be precise. The word detachment, as it is used in this film, can be understood as a mental condition in which the individual is not governed by social forces seeking to erase their individuality. It can be understood as breaking attachments that impede the growth of our individuality, and in this sense perhaps “disconnection” is a better rendering. My continual emphasis on being “one person” comes from the fact that such individuals are rare in every society. What human beings imagine to be individuality is often in fact atomistic individuality: one particle like millions of others, in a society that mass-produces identity and turns us not into strong and independent individuals but into human masses. In this world, each one of us is ultimately either part of the problem or part of its solution. To be one person means accepting responsibility for being part of the solution in a world where problems are never scarce, whichever way we turn. It means having the courage to assume responsibility for increasing the clarity with which we see the world, and welcoming the risk of thinking independently. It means allowing ourselves to find meaning in the weight of the suffering of our fellow human beings that we choose to carry. Only by accepting responsibility for being one person will we be able to hold ourselves in greater respect. Loneliness may be the smallest price we pay for this “detachment”—but what price would we not pay for freedom? Aydin Areta