Inked Fingers and Courage Under Fire

Some of us may never understand the kind of courage displayed by millions of Iraqis on election day. Most of us, would not cross a street under fire to save an acquaintance. We'd call 911 (not that it is a bad thing) instead. In the absence of 911, we'd stay home. Which is exactly what a rather large number of us does on election day here in Canada. In the last election, not accounting for the trick of counting only registered voters, instead of eligible ones, a little less than 2 out 5 Canadians stayed away from the polls.

Roughly, from the early reports from Iraq, that's about the equivalent ratio of Iraqis that did not come to vote. But the real story is in the 3 out 5 that did, risking life and limb in order to exercise a duty that most of us in Canada (and in the industrialized West) take for granted. But we do more than take it for granted. We have ceased to regard it as a duty. Instead, we look at it as a right, or simply just another state-granted entitlement that we receive --and which many of us evidently reject. Some will say that such is the price of living in a free society, and I do not quarrel with that. Freedom must include the freedom to cease caring, if one so chooses. But it does not begin to pay homage to the heroic Iraqi citizens that ventured to the polls under pain of possible death. So here it is: Hail, the victorious citizens of Iraq!