Every afternoon, from May to October, I ride my bike down the paved road to the ferry landing and walk across on the On Time ferry into Edgartown to exercise at the Edgartown Yacht Club fitness center. It’s a beautiful ride, passing by scrub oak, bayberry, listening to birds singing, and looking over the outer harbor to see what the sailboats are doing. It gives me time to think.

I am 86 years old, and I seem to spend a lot of time thinking mostly about peace. Chappaquiddick can have that effect on you. I bought land here in 1974 and built a second home. I know now that in establishing a home on Chappaquiddick that I was trying to recreate for my family the summer home of my youth in the idyllic mountains north of Iran in Shemiran. And it’s no surprise that peacemakers like Elie Wiesel and former President Barack Obama have been drawn to the haven of this special Island as well.

These days, my thoughts on my daily bike rides inevitably turn to my native country of Iran, which I will never forget, and my adopted country of America, which has held such promise for me. I am concerned about current efforts by President Donald Trump to dismantle the peace agreement that was so painstakingly forged in July 2015 between Iran and the United States by the Obama administration and notably Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif. I have written a book, Trump and the Iranian Islamists: A Threat to World Peace (New Publishing Partners, 2018), that tells my story and delivers a message of hope and peace for all nations.

As another spectacular summer on Martha’s Vineyard comes to a close, it is my wish that, as we pack our bags and head to our winter homes, we bring back with us the true sense of peace to be found here — and work to spread it around the world.

Dr. Siamak Adibi

Chappaquiddick