Egypt

I have been watching the changes and the conflict in Egypt. I cannot, not watch. Every news program; all the major news organizations have a presence in that ancient area. I almost feel like a voyeur as I watch brother fight brother and ideology battle ideology.

Revolution, conflict, demands for change, and uprisings are not new to Egypt.

Egypt has been involved in disputes and conflicts since its revolution in 1952. The July 23rd Revolution was aimed at overthrowing King Farouk I. It worked.

In 1954 Egypt had the Muslim Brotherhood conflict. It was suppressed.

There was a brief involvement with the Yemen Civil War in 1962. It was costly for Egypt for they supported the side that lost.

The Six-Day War was an embarrassing loss to Israel. Fingers were pointed. Ministers resigned. The national face was never restored until Sadat agreed to a peace treaty with Israel during the Carter administration stunning the Arab world.

Revolution is often a misunderstood word. It comes from the Latin “revolutio” which means “a turn around.”

Egypt today is certainly in a turn around.

What does it mean for the rest of the world? I would suspect the meaning to the subdued in Egypt and elsewhere, to the other have not’s of the world it means a passage out of sameness. It means a power shift and change and the invisible inevitable struggle that comes with change.

I don’t know what the ramifications will be in the political, regional, economic arenas of the world. I leave that to the prognosticators and the soothsayers and the pundits of our current media.

I do believe that the human spirit is one that has always desired to be free and to choose one’s individual destiny. It happened here 235 years ago and its atavistic DNA still lingers in all Americans today.

Let us hope that the quest for freedom in Egypt and everywhere will prevail over the diabolical control of all extremes that always emerge from under the rocks of revolution to spoil the quest.