A Note on Egypt

To say we've been watching history unfold over the past several days is putting it mildly. Revolution in Egypt has been capturing the eyes of the world. It's been dramatic looking at the overhead camera's view of the city of Cairo and seeing all the people willing to put their lives on the line for liberty.

I was surprised to be struck to see the view of the Nile River flowing through this modern city. The Nile for me has always been a blue line running down Africa on a map. Oh, it's not that I didn't know it was there but seeing this ancient natural feature in the middle of such a modern scene made me realize how profound the happenings below.

Watching the thousands of people in the square and hearing them call for Mubarak to step down, call for democracy, call for freedom has been moving and inspirational. It's been scary, too. Oh, not personally scary for those of us watching from thousands of miles away, but we have been holding our breath and hoping that the demonstrators will be safe, that there won't be a bloodbath. And so far, so good. When the announcement came today that Mubarak stepped down, the cheer from the crowd was loud enough to be heard around the world.

All is not settled yet, of course and it remains to be seen how the military will respond, how quickly elections can be held, who will step into power. We are still watching and still not quite ready to breathe.