The sheer irony of watching a Revolution seed itself on American soil, inspired by a Revolution in a country inspired by my country is... breathtaking. And it is happening. To Egypt and back again, we've been struck by the raw strength of our own ideology in action. Through the grace of the Egyptian people, we Americans are now profoundly aware of what we have lost: Democracy of, by and for the people. We have been fed a GMO version for so long that we believe it is real. It looks like a Democracy, smells like a Democracy, tastes like a Democracy...but it is not. And now, after 18 days of witness, we know.
As an American, a woman, a human, my soul is afire with hope, dreams re-born and a deep, deep love for humanity as I witness it rising to the truth of freedom, self-determination and faith. Within moments of Mubarak's resignation a friend request popped up on my Facebook account which then featured an Egyptian flag I had posted in support. The request was from an Egyptian gentleman who found himself in Cairo at that very moment...I promptly accepted and he gleefully thanked me for supporting his country. He thanked me. The profound depth of humility that I felt, knowing what I know about my Governments support of tyrannical dictators around the world since WWII including his very own Mubarak, left me hollow, my blood resting low in my veins.
For that moment, our governments did not exist. We did. I cried unstoppable tears. And in that moment I knew, my country must change. And we must be the ones to do it, or it will be done for us.
That it would take the courage of Egyptians, recipients of my governments sheer greed and pathological support of the very tyranny beneath which they struggled for three decades, to rise up and say 'no more' thereby providing the very fuel we the people so desperately need here in the states to recognize that the very same tyranny exists on American soil, cloaked in a genetically mutated version of 'Democracy', is truly the most profound political moment of my experience as an American. And I am sensing that I am absolutely not alone in feeling this way.
When, exactly, did our own democracy become a GMO version of itself? And what is to be done?
Where the Revolution will spark here on American soil remains to be seen. I do not know. Will it be the heartland with its feudal farmers hog-tied to the tit of industrial agriculture? Will it be in the suburbs fraught with disillusioned debtors, barren, bank-owned trophy homes and empty-eyed youth on Ritalin? Will it be in the grey cubicles of stale offices occupied by those who are silently mad-as-hell and conveniently close to the windows? Or will it be at the hands of the 20-something gadget brigade who, thanks be to God, do not know what they do not know? Who holds the match and who holds the flint stone?
A Revolution is not a Revolution without the object of revolt. What delays our own Revolution is that yet-to-be clarified object....right now we still believe that it is ourselves. We have succumbed to believe it is our greed, our gluttony of consumerism, our disregard for the cost of our lifestyle borne by others on foreign shores. In part we are right. But in greater part we are wrong... and we are waking up to this. Blame games aside, when 'it' becomes clearly and succinctly defined, recognized and accepted as that which is to be removed in order for a true Democracy-of-the-people to be restored on our own shores, the momentum of the correction in the civil realm will be blinding. Do not underestimate the power of resolve running in the blood of Americans. Do not. I believe the American people are ripe to recognize our own metaphorical naked emperor. We are keen for it. For Egypt it was, all things considered, easy, embodied in one man.
For us it will be far more difficult, but it will come.
