Was catching up with a friend who just returned from several months in Dubai over coffee Sunday (on what's become a rare weekend in Atlanta, as of late), and we got to talking about the happenings in the Middle East. Protests are raging in Egypt, led by a youth movement in a country looking to oust its longstanding President from power.
It strikes me as strange to think that these protests in Egypt are being led by people my age. Just like those in this country during Vietnam. And those in China during Tiananmen. To think that people would believe so strongly in their cause, at 22, 23, 24. Younger, even. To risk their lives to make a statement. To risk their lives for a reward so sweet as freedom.
These are not trivial sacrifices. The questions are only hypothetical to those of us who are sitting today on this side of our reality.
And so Amira and I asked ourselves, if that was me, if I was there, would I be out in the streets? Would I be protesting? It's easy to sit on this side of the world and say that yes, of course, I would defend my freedoms and stand up for what I believe in, but it's not hard to imagine a world in which people aren't empowered enough to question what they have and don't have. To grow up in a world that allows you to speak your mind. That doesn't block Twitter and censor Wikipedia. In which you don't fear for your life when you choose your friends.
I'd like to think that if I was in that situation I would find something so worth living for that I would die to preserve it.
I can only hope for that kind of courage.
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| A protester praying in the street (photo courtesy of... ) |
These are not trivial sacrifices. The questions are only hypothetical to those of us who are sitting today on this side of our reality.
And so Amira and I asked ourselves, if that was me, if I was there, would I be out in the streets? Would I be protesting? It's easy to sit on this side of the world and say that yes, of course, I would defend my freedoms and stand up for what I believe in, but it's not hard to imagine a world in which people aren't empowered enough to question what they have and don't have. To grow up in a world that allows you to speak your mind. That doesn't block Twitter and censor Wikipedia. In which you don't fear for your life when you choose your friends.
I'd like to think that if I was in that situation I would find something so worth living for that I would die to preserve it.
I can only hope for that kind of courage.
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