Egypt Liberated

Yalla ya Misr!

My heart is with the Egyptian people! Smiles, confidence, thiqa, reason, passion, righteousness, strength, pride, unbroken honor, respect, unyielding passions that resonate through all the fiber optic cables and all the air waves of the world. And what a world it is! And Egypt the mother of it! Ya Salaam! Peace and protest, peaceful protests and a dictator is down and out and the people are up and in; the triumph of humanity.

That is what it all comes down to: humanity. It is a shared sense of identity that transcends all of the messy and unnecessary markers of distinction that lead not so much to individualization as to a separation from the rest of mankind itself. We see individuals acting in an accord with a group, common people doing common things and achieving the absolutely unimaginable.

Perhaps we must alter our imaginations because we can never doubt the ability of a people, of a nation, of a polity, of a population that is made up of the youngest of babes to the oldest of elders to affect change in a way that those somewhere in-between believe to be impossible. It is possible. Anything is possible.

When people are bound by external stereotypes, they will overcome. When people are dismissed as incapable, they will surprise you with their capability. When people are treated like dirt, they will wipe that dirt off of themselves and offer up their clean face once more.

People don’t live in the dust, that’s for those who have died. We live in an element in between, not quite Heaven and not quite Hell; but what a marvelous place it is. With skylines punctured by skyscapers, minarets and antennas, all their respective messages to send and all with their audiences to attract. All of them coming together in the name of thowra: revolution. Not blood, not spears, not knives and daggers, but banners and words, faces and smiles, camaraderie and fraternity and sorority in the name of a common humanity are their tools.

Egypt is not lost on us, nor should it be. Tunisia already seems to be somewhere in the background, but nor does it deserve someplace in the shadows. Freedom sweeps all up in its path. It is a call to celebrate and commemorate. It flies above the pain of repression on the wings of doves. It eludes persecution because you cannot possibly defeat an idea, an ideal as strong as an innate emotion. It permeates all sectors of society and cuts across all classes in all cultures. It gives us something to smile about; it’s a feel-good cause because it is a do-good cause. Good things come from it in the same way that light emanates so brightly from the sun. It radiates with all the blessings of He who you believe in and sets itself straight up on the altar of humanity. It is ours to behold, it is ours to cherish, it is ours to use in any way we please. So long as that freedom does not impinge the freedoms of others, it remains a right that is imbued in every individual, every human being.

For those whose hearts have grown too cold and whose minds have shrunk too small, freedom becomes a fleeting idea. But for those whose hearts are warm and whose minds grow with each passing moment, theirs is the white banner of freedom that we hold on high. I see it, you see, we all see it, and they see it too. Yes, feel that passion, excitement and sensational ideal of freedom and work to secure its everlasting presence in the society you seek to build.

Go forth, ya hurriyea, and free all those whose name they call but whose face they’ve seen not. Shine bright. Shine strong. Shine on.

Explore More
Event Timeline
The Campus: Students evacuate from Egypt
Wikipedia: 2010-2011 Protests in Arab World