Revoluationary heart

It was an unusual sunny day in the gloomy Feb, it was Friday and I was walking along the fulham palace road amid the busy morning traffic. This is not an attractive road in west London, too many odd little shops dotted along the side of the street, many of them represent the business from the past, now on the downward spiral of dying out. But my mind was unusually active in the early morning sun, I was still exited by the development in Egypt last night, looks like Mubarak was definitely on the way out. I passed by charring cross hospital, a grey 70s building on the roadside, a man standing on the side of the street was handing out some newspaper, and it reads “Mubarak goes” in the bold headline on the front page. My heart jumped with enthusiasm for a moment, I rushed to the office hoping to have a quick glance of the breaking news on the Internet. But when I opened the Reuters news page, I realized he has not resigned. However, this day later on proved to be the day of his departure.
As a total outsider watching these extraordinary events unfolding, I was amazed and stunned by the Egyptians courage and determination. The scenes in Tahrir square are not completely foreign to me, I can well relate them to my own countries and my own experience. There was not a clear leader or organizer in this movement, but they did with sheer enthusiasm and persistency. It will be a long road before the true democracy gets established, but it brings hope to desperate people.
Revolution is a big and loud word, and it is a word all dictators were afraid of. Democracy is a beautiful thing, it brings freedom and tends to be associated with prosperity. But looking around in Asia, you can argue that a country can still develop economically even without a democratic government, so democracy itself is not a cure for poverty. The leaders in Asia, particularly in China, cleverly acknowledged the need of economic development in the society, it is a good way to keep the majority of the population from taking to the street. And the Chinese society, rooted from farming oriented self sufficient and self preservation culture, seem to be quite content with the unparallel path of economic and political reforms, at least the affluent middle class. Although we learned in history that the elite in the society rarely are the drivers of the reform and revolution, it is always the underdogs that see opportunities from the changes.
The Middle East seems to be caught in the wildfire at the moment, inequality and poverty are always triggers of the political movement, when the basic needs of human beings are not fulfilled, they will fight for a better life. The revolution in the western society happened quite some time ago, although there were vivid examples that all rights had to be fought for, they were not given for free to start with. I always think I have a revolutionary heart but fall short of courage and determination.