Acceptance & Tolerance.. A personal jihad

I figured so many things out tonight.

I went through a wide variety of emotions and discovered, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I had the knowledge all along.

For one, I am terribly disappointed in the statements made by dear friends and family members that happen to be Egyptian about the terrible acts of violence committed on American diplomats in Libya. I know I have defended the very same people, by always implying that middle easterners are peace loving, and do not want to hurt Americans.

At the same time, I came to understand something so thought provoking.. that it almost boggles the mind. How do you explain free speech to a group of people who have NEVER known what it is to live without fear of expressing a differing opinion when it comes to religion and politics? If I do not agree with your faith, I can say so. If I think your "god/goddess/whatever" or prophets are false, I can say so. You might get mad, but I don't have to worry about you storming the gates of the Vatican, taking on the Swiss Guard and overthrowing the Pope. Nor do I have to worry (so much..) about you bursting through the gates of the White House and trying to hurt our President. Instead, we voice our opinions and move the "eff" on.

Where is this coming from?? Well.. from what I understand is this - a movie that Muslims find extremely offensive was made by an American. It apparently had insults on their Prophet Muhammad. I do not know what was in this movie, since I have not seen the movie, nor have I located the trailer, which I heard was on Youtube. That's right - Youtube. People got wind of it and BOOM.. Egyptians are scaling the walls of the American Embassy, ripping down the American Flag and raising a flag of Islam. To poor fuel on the fire, on 9/11.. protesters stormed the American Consulate in Libya and killed an Ambassador and a few other people.

Because of a movie.

Yes, we can trivialize it all day, because those of us growing up in America are used to ridiculous rhetoric about this group and that group. I can't tell you how many times a day I come across someone bashing women or bashing Catholicism or whatever. Do I run immediately to the nearest Consulate and light their flag on fire? No, but I do have a right to protest. Peacefully. I also have a right to type my feelings on the entire issue, without fear of anything bad happening. I can even say whatever I want, specifically to someone about how I feel about an issue. These are the rights that are afforded to me.

Unfortunately, others do not understand where their rights end and our begin. The line is not as clear and it is all so very new to them. I was told by a former exchange student of mine, who happens to be Kurdish, that she believes that no one has the freedom to insult someones religion.

Actually, you do.

You can say whatever comes to mind. That does not make it right.

You have a right to your opinion. Though that does not make your opinion the opinion of others, nor does it constitute a fact.

I could go on and on about the issue, but it will never make sense to some. I am an American. I have so many freedoms that are entirely too difficult to translate for someone who has never experienced them. The real price of freedom? Accepting someone else's right to form an opinion that differs from your own, and NOT physically flipping out on that person.

The crazy part is, I am less upset over the protesting (which I think is a healthy way to let your voice and opinion be heard,) and more so upset over people thinking it is okay to hurt others because they said something that upset you.

I came home tonight and saw my egyptian. He is Muslim and a very devoted Muslim. Unfortunately, our few years living together has been extremely rocky (culturally speaking)and yes, I began seeing a side I did not like and attributing that to his religion (because he always tells me he makes decisions according to his religion.) Always going on and on about his religion.. and usually it is incredibly oppressive and completely opp osite of my thought process.

With that being said.. you can imagine today.. what the reactions of people I knew over "there" and the way I have experienced it in my own home.. how much that affected me.

I had to take a few minutes and just soak. Literally.. I took a super hot bath and tried to shake off the disappointment and the rose colored glasses. It's like I am living in my own little personal jihad and it made me stop and think.. Why do I find myself here? Wouldn't it be so much easier to only associate with like-minded people? Who look like me, who talk like me, who think like me? How much easier would my life be?

Then suddenly, a thought came to my mind - "Bloom where you are planted."

Over and over.. I thought of this quote.. "Bloom where you are planted."

For whatever reason.. I find myself here. Disappointed and heading toward bitterness.

Then I realized - it's okay to be disappointed. It is not okay to be bitter.

Then I came here and purged.

Egyptian Revolution

In case you do not follow the news (which, honestly - when I ask people if they have heard about this, they say.. no.) - Egypt is embarking on it's own little Revolution.

They are taking their country back, and trying to overthrow their dictator, Mubarek, that has been in power for 30 years. 

At first, this news made me a little uneasy. People will die, innocent victims may loose their homes, you know.. basic "war" stuff. Because folks, that what this is - a

civil war. Now, you may be thinking - so what. Yeah.. but my family is there. My in-laws, and many people who have become good friends with me.

I am excited that FINALLY the country came together to take a stand against the government. (If only now the WOMEN would come together and take a stand against the men.. lol)

I am going to cut and paste a story about yesterday's protests - and catch you guys up. The most amazing thing - it all started with Facebook. Seriously:
(From Yahoo News)

Police fought with thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban on Wednesday to protest against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-old rule, firing rubber bullets and tear gas and dragging away demonstrators.


In central Cairo, demonstrators burned tires and hurled stones at police. In Suez, protesters torched a government building as protests intensified in other parts of the country.



Two people died in Cairo as protests unfolded but security officials contradicted each other on the circumstances. One told reporters a protester and a policeman were killed in clashes. But another official later said they died in a traffic accident.


The scenes, rare in a tightly run nation with a fragmented opposition movement, follow the overthrow two weeks ago of another long-serving Arab strongman, Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in a popular revolt.

Emboldened by the Tunisian uprising and frustrated by corruption, poverty and repression, protesters in Egypt have demanded that the 82-year-old Mubarak step down.



"The people want the regime to fall," they chanted. On Tuesday, the first day of rallies known as the "Day of Wrath" among activists, three protesters and a policeman were killed.



Security forces have arrested about 500 demonstrators over the two days, an Interior Ministry source said. Witnesses said officers, some in civilian clothes, hauled away people and bundled them into unmarked vans. They beat some with batons.

The coordinated protests were unlike anything witnessed in Egypt -- one of the United States' closest Middle East allies -- since Mubarak, a former air force commander, came to power in 1981 after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamists.

Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid canceled a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos. He gave no reason.


Police fired shots into the air near the central Cairo court complex, witnesses said. In another area, they drove riot trucks into a crowd of about 3,000 people to force them to disperse.



One anonymous protester in Cairo told Reuters: "The main tactic now is we turn up suddenly and quickly without a warning or an announcement. That way we gain ground."



Prominent reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei, who lives in Vienna, has decided to return to Egypt on Thursday, his brother said. Baradei, formerly head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog authority, is a vocal advocate of political change. But the exact purpose of his trip was not clear.



TWITTER AND PROTESTS

Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been a key means of communications for the protesters. Egyptians complained Facebook and Twitter were subsequently blocked, but many accessed them via proxies. The government denied any role.



Showing their determination to continue, a new Facebook group was created calling for a weekend protest on Friday. It secured 18,000 supporters within hours. A Facebook spokesman in London said it had not seen any major changes in traffic from Egypt. Twitter confirmed its site was blocked on Tuesday.



The United States said Egypt, the most populous Arab state, was still a "close and important ally." But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also urged the government to allow peaceful protests and not to block the social networking sites.



"We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," she said.



Analysts said the United States probably wants to avoid adding to political uncertainty by abandoning Mubarak. Egypt's peaceful if chilly relationship with Israel is, for Washington, a bulwark of stability in the unsettled region.



Elections are due to be held in September but few had doubted that Mubarak would remain in control or bring in a successor in the shape of his 47-year-old son Gamal.


"Mubarak never experienced this level of public anger and such a rejection of his legitimacy in 30 years of power," said analyst Issandr El Amrani. "This looks quite bad for him."



Father and son both deny that Gamal is being groomed for the job but the Egyptian street does not believe them.
 "Gamal, tell your father that Egyptians hate you," protesters yelled in Cairo on Wednesday.

POLITICAL DEMANDS

Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered early on Wednesday outside the morgue in Suez, at the southeastern end of the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. They demanded the release of the body of a protester killed there on Tuesday.



"The government has killed my son," the Suez protesters chanted outside the morgue. "Oh Habib, tell your master, your hands are soiled with our blood," they said, referring to Interior Minister Habib al-Adli.


Hundreds also gathered outside Cairo's journalists' union. Police beat some with batons when they tried to break a cordon and protesters on buildings threw stones at police below.

Demands posted on Facebook included the resignation of Mubarak and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, the dissolution of parliament and formation of a national unity government.


The prime minister said the government was committed to allowing freedom of expression by legitimate means and said police in Tuesday's demonstrations had acted with restraint.



Egypt's population of 80 million is growing by 2 percent a year. About 60 percent of the population -- and 90 percent of the unemployed -- are under 30 years old. About 40 percent live on less than $2 a day, and a third are illiterate.



Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister, said reform was needed to address Arab citizens' demands for better lives.



"The Arab citizen is angry and we feel broken as citizens. Reform is the name of the game, and reform has to happen now all over the Arab world," Moussa told Reuters in Davos.



Investors fretted over the instability. Egypt's stock market, shut on Tuesday for a holiday, fell 6 percent on Wednesday, the Egyptian pound hit a six-year low against the U.S. dollar and the cost of insuring Egyptian debt against default rose.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad, Sarah Mikhail, Tom Pfeiffer and Patrick Werr; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Edmund Blair and Maria Golovnina; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)