December 1, 2011 - I talked to a taxi driver from Iran last night. Zoroastrian, he left in 1977. I said "Before the revolution there?" He answered, "We do not call it that"... We drove from a bar here in Kansas City back to our hotel after an electrifying conversation with a bartender named Bo who gave our cynical view of America a hip-check of youthful enthusiasm. We adjusted our thoughts accordingly and wondered if an American politics was still possible.
And, in that taxi, that guy's enthusiasm still seemed with us. Sitting twenty minutes in the cab after we had arrived at our destination, we were caught in a new conversation that always ended with a question: "Okay, good night.... But let me ask you one more thing..." he'd say. My friend Randy and I would try and answer - not always from the same perspective - and that question would become another dialogue... a hopefulness for the Mid East, for America, for a future for his three daughters. We parted ways with Sy, gripped by possibility.
Across the sea in Egypt a violent week had given way to peaceful elections that stunned even the Egyptians. No one killed in the first of many stages... Millions voting in lines snaking back as much as three kilometers. Banter and dialogue among those who opposed each other not about hate or anger, but about pure politics and a process few had ever imagined they would see. Was there vote buying and fraud? Yes. Ballot irregularities and administrative failures? Of course. But the papers are reporting them and the voters are documenting them in an unprecedented outpouring of hand held recordings and videos posted all over social networking sites and in the media. It is in many way s a transparent election that, because it is drawn out, will likely end up more poorly than expected for those caught cheating. This is a people that will not quietly accept documented manipulation after waiting so long. I have faith in this outcome... I believe, in the end, the average Egyptian will be heard - regardless of the type of government they choose.
Here in Kansas City the world suddenly feels possible again.