Embracing Democracy
As I perused the news this week I experienced an epiphany. Our daily coverage of news from Iraq, in all its ubiquity, has never hit upon the truth. Now it has finally dawned on me, despite our cultural differences, what the Iraqi people are doing. I must say: hats off to the Iraqi citizenry. Let me be the first to thank them wholeheartedly for embracing Democracy so thoroughly.
As I read the news today I hear in the background the pops and bangs of fireworks as my neighbors share the sounds of their Independence Day frivolity. That's when it hit me: The Iraqis have been celebrating their new-found Democracy in the same way!
True - their fireworks are larger than ours. That just shows their unbridled enthusiasm for their new government. The fact that Iraqi bottle-rockets and M-80's are home-made probably stems from a lack of an established pyrotechnics industry, a deficit being rapidly corrected. That people are often hurt is an unfortunate effect of both their having no approved safeguards in effect - there are probably no firemen present during displays - and intense exhilaration regarding their recent liberation. The newness works against them here, too. Finally, their attenuated revelry can be attributed to the natural confusion brought on by the sheer number of fledgling governments they've had in the last few years. Nobody seems to know when exactly their Independence Day happened.
And who can blame them?