We the Egyptian people all over the world still hope to see true Democracy in Egypt during our lifetime.

The Girl from Shobra

It is really my pleasure to vote!!

We in the United States of America are truly blessed and fortunate to be able to vote in all National, State, and local elections. This is a freedom that we can use to practice the right to vote. Unfortunately it is taken for granted in our society. That is why I thought to write on the subject. I get so sad when I ask people if they have voted or will vote and get told that they have not, either because they did not realize the importance of their true action or are looking for excuses, whether legitimate or trivial (such as I had to work today, traffic was bad, I had to feed the children dinner, I forgot, we were working on homework, the voting line was too long or I did not register earlier). All these excuses and more may be legitimate but they may amount to “the dog ate my voting card”.
I look around with amazement and shock every time I vote. I stand with pride, happiness, and excitement. I get in line early in the morning, greet the wonderful volunteers and ask them “Is the line long?”  I like it when I am told the line is long. That means it has been busy and steady. I proactively show off my American privilege, by putting my voted sticker on to show it to all the children at Prince William Academy. At Prince William Academy all the children practice voting, calculate the results, graph it and announce the winner. We put it up front so parents and children can talk about it.
One year I even volunteered with the election board, attended the training, and worked from 5:00 am till 2:00 am. That year Al Gore won at the precinct I was serving. Even though I was exhausted that night, I was still smiling, because I saw for myself the most amazing action, I lived the moment where democracy is practiced freely! Where people lined up freely to have their own will influence the society they live in. In order to exercise their right to vote people with special needs were served timely in line. No one bullied, hit or prevented any citizen from voting freely. You may wonder why I am talking about this. It’s because I was born in a country that up until now does not grant its citizens this right. During the last election of Egypt I was told that thugs attacked women and old men to prevent them from voting for their choice; and on the higher presidency level, it did not matter, as there were no choices. Egyptians still do not have the right of Democracy, and its citizens do not have the pleasure to vote. It is not because the Egyptians did not pay their dues, as for sure we did. My father fought in Alameen as part of the Second World War because of the promise from Great Britain to free Egypt. My uncles, fought in 1952 to keep Egypt free, and I participated with many strikes during my University years to demand democracy.
We the Egyptian people of multi-nationality still hope to see true Democracy in Egypt during our lifetime. Then it will be my true pleasure to vote in an Egyptian Election just as free and with pleasure as I vote in an American Election.

by

President, Prince William Academy
drsamiaharris@princewilliamacademy.com