Another matter is about students' outlook towards the issues of the country. I agree one hundred percent with and approve the critical outlook that students had here. Of course, I might not agree with some criticisms that were made here, whether the criticisms which were related to executive divisions, the criticisms related to the judiciary branch or the ones related to the Leader's Office. Some criticisms may be legitimate and some may not, but I approve one hundred percent of the essence of this critical outlook. What I am saying is that this critical and concerned outlook should not be taken away from students and from academic environments.
They should both have a critical and an idealist outlook. They should pursue ideals as well. They should put a question mark over shortcomings and flaws. Students should see the existing shortcomings and flaws. They should see the flaws and they should ask about them. Now the other party might have a legitimate excuse for refusing to answer these questions, but this should not prevent students from posing questions. You should ask. The spirit of asking, of enjoining the good and forbidding evil, and of demanding ideals and values in a serious manner is an acceptable spirit for students.
And students should not become disappointed at temporary failures. You should pay attention to this. You should not say to yourselves, "We said something, but it did not happen. We had such and such a goal, but it was not achieved." You should not at all allow hopelessness and disappointment to overcome you. If people are supposed to become disappointed, we should have become disappointed and retreated hundreds of time during the time of revolutionary activities and hundreds of time during the eight-year imposed war. They used to pour into people's houses, beat them in front of their wife and children, and take them away in chains. They did worse things as well.
If one is supposed to become disappointed and unhappy because of receiving a blow and – as that dear girl said – being beaten, those who used to fight during the time of revolutionary activities should have become disappointed as well, but they did not. If they had become disappointed, the cause would not have achieved victory. The same is true of the war. During the war too, it occurred many times that the things that we had planned and predicted did not happen. For example, during Operation Ramadhan, we used to think that the operation would succeed. It was summer and the weather was very hot. It was the month of Ramadhan and many of our youths were martyred and the operation failed. But did we become disappointed? Did our youth become disappointed?
Statements made during a meeting with university students; June 7, 2017.
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