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They marched, they stood, they danced, they sang. They laid down in front of tanks. They shed their blood.They tended to their wounded. They made posters showing the cross and the crescent united. Beaten by riot police, they chanted, " Selemeh! Peace, peace!" They got married in Tahrir square and celebrated their honeymoon in the protest.They processed with Coptic crosses and prayed for the rod of the oppressor to be lifted. Five times a day they entered into contemplative peace as the call to Prayer echoed forth. They made human chains to protect those who knelt in prayer. They touched their foreheads to the asphalt. God is Great! Their non-violent protest lifted the spirits of lovers of peace and justice around the world. We wept for their dead and prayed for their success.
They had no Gandhi, no Martin Luther King, no Nelson Mandela. They had only themselves, the people, young and old, Christian and Muslim, women and men, workers and professionals. And they prevailed. As dawn broke on Saturday, the chanting of Quran rang out, and thousands knelt in prayer to greet a new dawn for Egypt and for the world. May their example of satyagraha, of soul force, inspire oppressed people around the world. May it inspire us all, as the fate of Mother Earth hangs in the balance.
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