I have a friend and colleague who is Egyptian. He is one of the young, well-educated men involved in the freedom fight. I worried about his welfare in the midst of the unrest and when they finally had success I wrote and inquired. He responded with a very heartfelt and sincere, brief message:
"Thank you so much Debbie. It has been a difficult period but we are now free!!!
It is such a wonderful time for us. :))"
We do take for granted the freedom and good life we have here. I'm sorry for those times I whine. Perspective. Freedom comes at great cost and I'm so glad they were successful so quickly and pray that the new regime will truly be better for the middle east. Mormon Times writer had some thoughts on it. Read
here.
It's way too early to proclaim Egyptians as being free. Mubarak is gone. That's not the same thing as freedom. As long as the military is in charge they are not free.
ReplyDeleteEgypt was proclaim "free" in 1952 when King Farouk left the country and the military took over. His leaving left a vacuum that was filled by Nasser, a dictator. Egypt could go the way of the Taliban, or they could get a democratic constitution . . . it's way too early to tell which way things will go.
Once they have a successful free election and that freely elected government is seated and functional, then it might be time to proclaim Egypt as being free.
Well, they feel hopeful anyway. You are correct that it could go any of several ways.
ReplyDeleteBy all accounts I hear they are headed the same way Iran went in 1979. I haven't heard anyone with any reasonable sense saying they think it will be free when it all shakes out. Also why are we not hearing anything about the uprising in Iran right now?
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