Of the people, by the people, for the people

Photo credit to Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

Perhaps it is inappropriate for me to use a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, a speech given by President Abraham Lincoln on 20 November 1863 to dedicate the cemetery for those who fell at the battle for Gettysburg in July of that year.  Mr Lincoln said in part, "...that we here highly resolve...that this nation...shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

I'm still trying to process events in Egypt.  I know what Egyptians have achieved has nothing to do with me.  Their protest has nothing to do with my way of life.  It isn't a cause for my own celebration.  Anything I write about what Egyptians have done can only sound patronizing or condescending, and I have no wish to sound that way.

Egyptians aren't all that concerned about what I think.  In fact, they'd probably rather I mind my own business.


I do know this...Egyptians have claimed Egypt for Egyptians.  It is a new birth of freedom and it is for Egyptians to determine what happens next.


I respect that.