100th post!

i'm so proud that on my 100th blog post i get to talk about a couple things that i'm so passionate about! politics and baseball! i actually hesitate to call it "politics" (tho i do enjoy my fair share of political bullshit discussions). but this is more than mere politics. what i want to talk about is about freedoms. its about people. and their voices. its about a revolution!

a while ago i read an op-ed piece where an egyptian was quoted after the tunisian people toppled the sitting government as saying that "today, we are all tunisians". the feeling of unbelief, then exuberance that filled me after what happened in tunisia remains undescribable. likewise, and even more so, i find it hard to put into words how i felt on saturday when i could proudly say, "today, we are all egyptians". i dunno why, but i felt such a pull towards the egyptian people. ...the resiliance...the passion...the cries...the tears...the shed lives...the strength. ive learned to value people of different persuasions to me in many areas of my life, but i find it really hard to understand people who are not emotionally charged by what is happening in the middle east. as a brotherhood (and sisterhood!) of human beings, we owe the people of egypt and tunisia (now yemen, iran, and others) nothing less than to take pride (and part, if we can) in what is happening. the process. the transformation. the revolution.

in high school, as the student body president, my advisor and civics teacher, ms. meyer, used to urge us student leaders to find something that we're passionate about (like free lunches or updated textbooks, or new facilities...yea, life was really difficult back then!) and fight for it. jokingly, she said she really wanted to see students stage a mass walk-out. i remember ms. meyer saying some pretty crazy and out-there things, but the lady had a good point. i don't think i've ever cared about something or someone so deeply that i was willing to risk my life for it. this is not about politics. this is about people. wanting to be free. wanting to hold people accountable to their words. this is government for the people, by the people. i truly hope that the succeeding weeks and months reaffirm, rather than squash that. even more, i hope that the lesson here for others is to find something that we are sincerely passionate about that we are not afraid to put our voices to and risk our lives for. thats deep.

tahrir means liberation.

watching the crowds demand their liberation, demand that their voices be heard, assert that they will no longer live in fear, but that their voices and actions matter and count for something, i was moved. these voices had been quieted for so many decades under the bane of fear, unworthiness, guilt, shame, religion, and hopelessness. these voices had had enough. for more than 2 weeks, these voices proclaimed that they would no longer be kept silent. one protester at tahrir square who came with his wife and young daughter reflected,

"We got a message from Tunis. And the message was: Don't burn yourself up, burn up the fear that is inside you. That is what happened here. This was a society in fear and the fear has been burned. When we meet God, we will at least be able to say: We tried to do something" [more]

That was before president mubarak stepped down. rather, was driven down. the egyptians more than "tried to do something". the protesters, the volunteers who came daily to ensure peace was held and the sick were tended to and the grounds were clean and the looters were kept at bay, they all were part of a great revolution of our time. a revolution seeking democracy and development, freedom and unity, and seeking this not through foreign armies and crooked deals, not through guns and wars, but rather through that very natural gift of their voices. united. one can only hope that the ripples that have been started in the arab world, emboldens other communities and brings them together in one call - the call for credible and democratic leadership which is for the people, by the people.

i could say so much more about this, but i'm already getting too emotional. thanks to al jazeera which has kept me glued to news and analysis from a different perspective all along. its interesting to read journalists and other commentators debate whether "an egypt" or "a tunisia" can happen in their country. to those that doubt that it can, i say, shit on your people long enough and soon enough they'll start realising that the droplets they feel on their heads is in fact that - shit. i think most people don't appreciate being shat on for an extended period of time. maybe that's just me.

moving on...baseball.

this has nothing to do with the post above, but its gotta have a mention. pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training / camp (mostly in florida). most other players will report by the end of the week. and the baseball season (seemingly never ending) is upon us once again. for my south african buddies who i have yet to convince of the genius of baseball, let me say again that this sport (as dull as it may look to the layman) is truly one of the greats. come chat to me. in the mean time, heres to my favourite team, the cardinals, signing one of my favourite playes, poo-joles (pujols), to another great season, and a world series (yes, we are the best in the world so much so that we dont need to play other countries to tell us this) ring for the cards.