The following is a guest post from Adrianne Redding. Adrianne is currently studying Political Science at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
Gadhafi is dead.
Syria is still embroiled in conflict.
The people of Yemen are always protesting.
Egypt won their fight against Mubarak.
Tunisia, the country that started the chain reaction, completed their revolution almost a year ago.
The unrest that is growing in the Middle East will have lasting effects, no matter which way the revolutions flow.
I have seen some newspaper editorials lambasting the revolutions with various reasons it won’t work out, such as it will invite Islamic extremism to gain control and crush Christianity, it will be only mob-driven, it will invite a worse leader than before, and on. Other writers have encouraged Tunisia from the beginning, likening the country to America’s fight for independence.
It all reminds me of the revolution during John Adam’s presidency, the revolution across the pond in France. As the glorious revolution began, Americans cheered for their allies, hoping that the French could gain their freedom from their monarchies. There were a few naysayers, of course, saying that the French had gone about it the wrong way, and bad things could happen.
We now refer to that event in history as the Reign of Terror.
As the Reign of Terror unfolded, Americans began bickering amongst themselves, and then watched in horror as so many people were killed in the name of freedom.
I expect—and wholeheartedly hope—that the revolutions in the Middle East will progress in a safe, just, and free way, unlike the French revolution of 1793. I hope that the people of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya will make something better from the ashes of the past regimes, but it is fair to assess that the Middle East is still not done toppling and creating regimes, and important, consequential decisions are yet to be made.
These revolutions will impact us in ways we don’t yet know, and these events, all so far from home, combined with historical record, are teaching me to keep my mouth shut about what I don’t know and my eyes and ears wide open to learn what may happen.
