I was a young adult, still enamored with the idea that America was de facto, the most free country in the world. But my friend sweetly shared the cultural basis of her very different belief: “Egypt is the FREEEST country in the world! Listen, In other Arab countries, you must wear the veil. Here, we choose."
She persuaded me then and there that Egypt was the "freeest" Middle Eastern democracy, but I still clung to my faith in the world supremacy of American democracy.
My friend persisted: "You have been a democracy for two hundred years, and you still have no equality for women! Here in Egypt, women have had constitutional equality for two hundred years! ”
Ouch! I was still stinging from the failed national campaign to add the Equal Rights Amendment to our U.S. Constitution back in the 70s, but my friend had not yet persuaded me that her motherland, Egypt, provided her a better democratic experience than my homeland provided me.
“Your businesses are coming here,” she continued, “Because it is easier to run a business here than in America. You have religious freedom, but we have it too! Here in Egypt, we have religious freedom! I am Christian. My daughter married an Israeli. My sister married a Muslim..." This point was difficult to refute. On the one hand, we had constituional religious freedom, but back in the 1970s Jewish and Catholic couples were still coming to Unitarian churches because their own synagogues, churches and families would not tolerate interfaith marriages.
My friend exuberantly persisted: "We speak five languages. We can be traditional, or we can be modern: scientists, physicians, politicians. Here in Egypt, you can do anything you set your mind to do. Anything! Egypt is the FREEEST country in the world!” In other words, women made their own choices.
There was nothing to debate here, so I accepted her feelings and asked for another iced drink.
I can still remember that day, more than 30 years ago, when I could celebrate my new friend’s joy that her country was providing human beings with some of the fruits of democracy: freedom of speech, the right to vote, to participate fully in the work force and in the process of governance.
I reveled with her that Egyptian businesses had the uncommon sense to adjust their work pace to the extreme climate and weather conditions of their hot summers. American businesses have yet to learn to adapt to the demands of climate and weather.
I still recall with joy, the moments in my home and in hers, when we celebrated new friendships between Israeli and Egyptian airline industry workers - all because Prime Minister Anwar El Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin had the uncommon decency to choose the path of peace to strengthen their nations' identities as modern democracies.
Thirty years ago, democracy had the comforting feel of a tall, iced cooler, something you could continue to sip and savor long after the glistening sun disappeared each night. But over time, the freedom, the rights of the people were abused. Now that the Egyptian people are standing up for their rights, we don't think of democracy as the perfectly frosty drink for a blazing hot day. Our leaders too often call the democracy movement "destablizing." That is unfortunate, and I pray our leaders will rethink this matter.
After all these years, I admit I have not been paying attention to thousands of small indignities that have sparked Egyptian citizens to rise up and stand for full restoration of their constitutional freedoms. The current crisis caught me completely by surprise, but it has set me to reflecting and remembering and hoping that the Egyptian people will win the day.
I pray for all those who are participating in the pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo and other parts of Egypt, that, as quickly and as peacefully as possible, they take back their government and restore their nation as a Middle Eastern model of tolerance, equality, and equal rights for all.
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