Freedom for Egypt!

Today, I watched a Frontline episode online about the revolution in Egypt. Initial reaction: no one in the U.S. would ever do anything like that because we don't care about anything. We aren't passionate enough about any issue to walk into the streets, risking injury or death to demand that things change. Is there anything happening in our country right now that would be worth protesting on a large scale? Maybe not. We aren't experiencing dictatorship or a mass genocide. We don't necessarily have to fear our own police force or the military.

But what about the role we play in the world around us? Over and over again, different peoples have proved to the world that revolution is possible simply through non-violent protest. People gain their freedom and bring down dictators by marching through the streets, using their words, telling their neighbors and friends, letting the police beat them, kill them, arrest them. And then they come back day after day, using the power of their words and the power of their numbers- without violence- and they win. Persistent, determined, courageous non-violent protests move mountains and change the world we live in.

So why do we as a nation stand by and watch as our government sends out tanks and bombs and guns to nations across the world when we think they have problems that we should fix? Why do we send thousands of troops to shoot at people instead of sending thousands of pacifists to join the suppressed in their cries for freedom? When a nation is crying out for help because they are being tormented by a dictator, why don't join hands with them in protesting, in organizing movements, in starting their own revolutions? What's our obsession with guns?

How do we help a nation of people who are suffering by dropping bombs on them? And if the purpose of our presence in any given nation is not to help the suffering, then why are we there at all?