Freedom’s Beacon

My wife and I went to visit our son at school this weekend in northern Indiana. We dropped him off late this morning and drove back home thru the beautiful, snow covered countryside. We listened to Fox News, CNN, CBS and other newscasts of the historic vote taking place in Iraq the whole way back. I was moved by what I heard.

Despite threats of violence, death and dismemberment to anyone who dared to cast a ballot in today’s elections, the populous of Iraq showed up at the polls. In fact they voted in droves, with a larger percentage of Iraqis voting than Americans in our elections.

To prevent the possibility of car bombings, auto travel was suspended in the entire country. People had to walk to the polls, some as far as 8 to 10 miles. There were stories of old, hobbled Iraqis needing a relative on each side to stabilize them so that they could walk to vote for the first time in their lives. Later they defiantly walked out of the polls, waving their purple stained fingers, dipped in an indelible ink to prevent voting multiple times. What determination! What desire! How many of us would walk even a mile to be able to vote?

The beacon of freedom is a very powerful one. I’ve seen it for myself in Brazil, Russia, South Africa and other countries. Today was a historic day in the Middle East. Hopefully, votes like we witnessed today will become as common there as in the USA.