marchand chronicles

Blue Fingers

Do you remember the feeling you had the first time you voted? For me, it was a small measure of civic pride, but I never got the feeling that I was participating in history, probably because it was a midterm election and the upticket races were never in any doubt.

But if you magnify that by a hundred — no, a thousand, perhaps more — you have the awesome honor that Iraqis had yesterday when they voted, in a region where the entire concept of democracy is new. Look at some of the pictures, especially those with the voters holding up a single index finger marked blue to show they voted (what a great idea! Paging King County . . .). I'll bet you didn't see similar looks of patriotic pride after one of Saddam Hussein's many bogus "elections." The contented delight on each of their faces is infectious, their blue fingers each symbolizing democracy's core idea of the singular power of many, many individuals. (I wonder what the Arabic translation of e pluribus unum is.)

Early estimates say that nearly three-quarters of Iraq's eligible voters now have blue fingers. Imagine that. That's a higher percentage than Americans who got cheesy "I Voted!" buttons. And consider that we get to drive to polling places; cars were banned from ballot stations in Iraq for security reasons, which means that every last voter risked being a sitting duck for the brutal "insurgents" whose final, desperate hope was to keep as many of them from expressing themselves as possible.

Perhaps nobody captured the feeling better than Mohammed and Omar from IraqTheModel:

How can I describe it!? Take my eyes and look through them my friends, you have supported the day of Iraq's freedom and today, Iraqis have proven that they're not going to disappoint their country or their friends.

Is there a bigger victory than this? I believe not.

I still recall the first group of comments that came to this blog 14 months ago when many of the readers asked "The Model?"… "Model for what?"
Take a look today to meet the model of courage and human desire to achieve freedom; people walking across the fire to cast their votes.

Could any model match this one!? Could any bravery match the Iraqis'!?
Let the remaining tyrants of the world learn the lesson from this day.

The media is reporting only explosions and suicide attacks that killed and injured many Iraqis s far but this hasn't stopped the Iraqis from marching towards their voting stations with more determination. Iraqis have truly raced the sun.

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.
I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!
These are stories that will be written on the brightest pages of history.

It was hard for us to leave the center but we were happy because we were sure that we will stand here in front of the box again and again and again.
Today, there's no voice louder than that of freedom.

I can only humbly echo that voice, but I'm happy to do it. This is your victory, Mohammed and Omar. Savor it all your lives, on behalf of me and everyone else for whom voting seems routine and dull.

posted by Marsh @ 5:38 PM