Thank You America

I dyed my index finger a deep, purplish-blue yesterday. Why I did that will be evident to those of you reading this, but to the overwhelming majority of people I encountered yesterday it was foreign. Most asked how I hurt myself. I dyed my finger in recognition of the birth of democracy. Regardless of what you think about war in general, this war in particular and the hows and whys of our participation, yesterday was a momentous day in history. A new democracy joined the world's ranks. People stood up to be counted. Today's New York Times reported the statements of a 38 year old teacher, Emad Abdul Jabbar, "Before we had a dictator, and now we have freedom, this is democracy. This time, we have a real election, not just the sham elections we had under Saddam, and we Sunnis want to participate in the political process." Lest you think this was an aberration, his quotes were not alone. The very last paragraph quoted a Mr. Saleh, himself critical of the American troops, "they came as liberators, but stayed on as occupiers." When the reporter pressed others on the question of troop withdrawal, most seemed cautious, favoring a gradual drawdown. "Let's have stability, and then the Americans can go home," said Mr. Sattar, a shop owner. When he was told by the reporter that this sounded similar to President Bush's formula for troop withdrawal, he replied: "Then Bush said it correctly." An online video showed long lines of Sunnis literally braving death to vote. As the camera panned across one well-worn Iraqi he stood up a little straighter, put his hand over his heart and said, "Thank you America." Some have told me how cornball that moment is, but to me it perfectly encapsulates what yesterday was all about. Whatever you think about the war, yesterday's events were good and beneficial to us and them. On my lunch break I went to a lunch cart I am in the habit of patronizing. The owner and workers are Pakistanis. The newest worker noticed my dyed finger and, in broken English, with a large smile lighting his features said, "Is good democracy, yes?" Yes my friend. Is good democracy, is good.