Humbled by their voices

The news is mesmerizing, all the people orderly and thoughtful, gathering to insist their voices be heard. Although I cannot read the signs being held up, I am awed by the reasoned comments I have heard, the women and men standing insistently and surprisingly patiently, waiting for Mubarak to announce that he is leaving, confident that he will do so. Listening to them speak, I cannot help but think about what passes these days for public discourse in my own country, the self-proclaimed beacon of democracy. What would a similar demonstration look like here? Would there be similar camaraderie and mutual support in evidence? Calm discourse? Trash pickup and recycling? How long might it be, if the demonstration were here, before someone opted for a “second amendment solution”? We have no idea what will unfold next in Egypt but right now all I can see is a lesson in democracy and in the ideal of human rights.