Our own struggle for freedom

Yesterday, all day I sat riveted to my TV screen watching the people of Egypt celebrate in the streets the fact that their 30 year dictator is gone from office. They now for the first time in a long time have hope that they may be able to control the future of their country. This incredible moment made me think of the history of Egypt, as taught to me through the Bible stories I learned as a young girl in Catholic school, the readings at Mass, and later my own faith formation as an adult. I couldn’t help but think of the story of those Jews who were held as slaves by the Egyptian pharaohs and were put to work to build the pyramids, I thought of the story of Moses and the Hebrew people crossing the Nile and wondered if their jubilee was just as intense, if the same kinds of dancing and prancing were experienced by those ancient peoples once they realized that they were now free. I also couldn’t help but think of my own history; my own exile from my birth country. The excitement I felt when I touched USA soil, (OK, it was snow when I landed) and realized I was in a foreign land. The hugs and banquet that awaited me in my family’s homes (food that was uncomfortable to eat and family’s faces that reflected eyes of many different colors I had never seen, skin tones and hair color so unlike my own) and yet, I remember the joy and sense of freedom I was breathing as something to be thrilled about. I also was thinking of how I had to leave behind a past that I would not ever experience again, even if I could go back. I knew that my life had changed in a big way.

This is what the Egyptian people experienced yesterday. Their life changed in a big way and no matter what, it can never be what it was in the past. What the future holds in store for them may create new anxieties, new experiences, new interactions.

However, there is a renewed hope in knowing that now they are in charge of their destiny.

This struggle for freedom is what is happening all over the world, and has been happening, since the beginning of time. The dilemma of the human race is that if we are not careful we may take for granted those basic rights that we instinctively desire.

Yesterday was a reminder that I should celebrate with the Egyptian people and remember that like them, I too am part of the human community and our human dignity is only fully realized in a community that strives to bring good about. The future is still a big question mark for Egypt, but I have faith and hope that goodness will prevail. How have you experienced a struggle for freedom?  What were you thinking when you saw the Egyptian people dancing in the streets?