Looking for Heroes in the USA

Wael Ghonim, Google’s young marketing executive credited with sparking the revolution in Egypt that ousted Hosni Mubarak, announced this week that he will take a long-term leave from Google to start an NGO (non-governmental organization) devoted to ending poverty and promoting education in Egypt.

Over the weekend, Time magazine included him in its latest list of the 100 most influential people. He is my hero.

Former United Nations chief nuclear inspector and Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei said of Ghonim: "Wael Ghonim embodies the youth who constitute the majority of Egyptian society - a young man who excelled and became a Google executive but, as with many of his generation, remained apolitical due to loss of hope that things could change in a society permeated for decades with a culture of fear.”

While our society does not have a majority of youth, and, thank God, our society is not permeated with fear, we can relate to the loss of hope that things here will change given the selfish and self-serving atmosphere in our state and federal governing bodies.

Not only our young people, but also many Baby Boomers shake their heads and turn away from engagement in the political process - abandoning hope that things will improve. We are hard-pressed to identify a single person in power who speaks for us, whose voice is our voice. Lawmakers seem removed from us and working mainly for their own self-preservation.

Even President Obama, battered by relentless toadies on both sides of the aisle, conceded that the change he envisioned eludes him. He may have surrendered, relinquishing his own aspirations, no longer apart from the bleakness of “at least getting something done.”

Perhaps it’s not a fair comparison. We could argue that things are simpler in Egypt. Corrupt rulers persecuting innocent people. Homogenous society held back by greedy tyrants.

We don’t experience the kind of intimidation and torment the Egyptian people endured. Our population is heterogeneous and multifaceted. Our issues also.

Still, we seek a Wael Ghonim among our elected officials. He put himself at risk and spoke out against the brutal police state that held Egypt by the throat for thirty years. As he might have predicted, he himself disappeared shortly after tipping the Facebook domino that inspired and empowered the Egyptian people. Only with help from Google and (by his assessment) President Obama, was he freed to speak again. Now he’s setting aside his own secure position in our country to devote himself to the Egyptian people and their future.

Who among our politicians puts himself at risk? Whose integrity prohibits him from remaining silent? Who dares to challenge his own party? Which legislator would support his colleague for speaking his mind if it strayed from the party line?

Name one. Go ahead, if you can. Who will forgo his own security to further empower and inspire the American people?

On the other side, Wael Ghonim himself will likely find that relieving poverty, for example, is not so straightforward as it seems. Certainly, establishing a government of the people and for the people promises to present unimagined difficulties.

We hold so much hope for Egypt because it reminds us of how we once were: New in the world having thrown off oppressive bonds, on the brink of rebirth, full of vision and promise. Are there more like Wael Ghonim who will now step forward to create a new day for Egypt and the Arab world?

I shudder to think that he could be overwhelmed and defeated. Would he ever shake his head and turn away? Could he succumb to the terrible weight of “the way things always have been,” become a bureaucrat, push paper, secretly knowing he sold out?

What of our politicians? Rushing and turning, never moving alone or taking the road less traveled. From strategy meeting to news conference, do they remember who they are and what their charge is? In their distorted province, they bustle about like elementary children on the soccer field playing bunch ball.

Meanwhile it’s jobs and the economy. Immigration. Education of our children. Global relationships. Enemies and friends. War and war and war.

If anyone can ring the bell and sound a resonant note on these issues, please do so. Tell the truth. Be guided by principle. Cut through the double talk and harangue. Shine a light. We’ll listen and follow.

We’re looking for heroes.

Think You Can Do Better?

In a week comprised of infuriating recalcitrance, pinnacles of human drama, and absurd maneuvering for profit, some notable examples of leadership dilemmas and decisions have emerged for our consideration.

Governor Jerry Brown has stepped up with an unflinching proposal for dealing with a feral state budget. Then, met with partisan politics instead of teamwork, he displayed a political civilian’s sensibilities when he chastised Republicans in Sacramento: So…you’re not going to vote for putting the proposed tax extensions on the ballot in June. You’re not going to vote for restricting redevelopment funding. You’re not going to do anything to address the budget; and yet you still pick up a paycheck?

If he’s feeling a mite frustrated, we everyday folks can relate. There’s a lot of heehaw going around in the Sacramento Corral about the bold moves needed to wrangle the state’s budget, strap a saddle on it, and ride dressage; but what does he get for his good faith efforts? Hoof dragging. We see a lot of bucking and snorting, reminiscent of unbroken colts, but no forward movement nor ideas for a better way. The Governor must somehow finesse a concession from the legislators he’d like to give the spurs. And finesse may not be his long suit. What cube of sugar will it take to get them moving?

And make no mistake, when the Republicans do offer up their counter-proposal, the Democrats also balk and stall. Meanwhile…well, you know.

President Obama finds himself in a classic leadership pinch. When he’s circumspect, holding back, measuring the will of the United Nations and the Arab League before committing United States armed forces to battle in Libya, his detractors grumble that he’s tepid, indecisive. Then, when he takes assertive action, they cry out that he’s extended himself beyond his purview. These howls come from the very representatives who publicly asserted that the international community could not/should not stand by watching while a maniacal tyrant makes good on his promise to slaughter the citizens he claims to love. “You must act!” they say. “Wait! You didn’t consult us! You acted too quickly! You should have waited. You waited too long! Now hurry up and get out! And don’t leave before you finish the job!”

As chapters are dashed off in the history of the world and pages turn daily, we can’t help wondering what leadership will emerge across the Middle East. The impetus for revolution in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, didn’t come from nowhere. Yet it seems to have gushed in a stunning upsurge of human spirit and the will to be free. But when the old is out and the new is in, who will step forward to facilitate the formation of these fledgling democracies? How will they raise their newborn children?

Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: How about this for a leadership model to emulate? CBS brass is in negotiations to bring Charlie Sheen back to “Two and a Half Men.” As they say on Facebook, SMH (shaking my head). We can only imagine what WikiLeaks would reveal if there were “diplomatic” cables among CBS executives about Sheen’s seemingly deranged rants, sad escapades with prostitutes, and paranoid slurs of his bosses, no, his former bosses; no, wait for it – his bosses-to-be.

Yes here they go, working to put him center stage again in their brightly lit prime time venue. This must be where a leader assesses such things as Sheen displayed to be personal, and therefore unrelated to the public performances that made them all so many millions of dollars. What’s really important after all? And will we help them out by tuning in? “Winning!”

Can we do it? (Or, should we do it?) Should we/can we look at what’s onscreen and not think of what’s taken place behind the veneer? How about Michael Vick? Can we root for him and his team while scratching our best friend’s ears? What about Bill Clinton? Only after this many years are we starting to separate the flawed human being from the work he did and is doing. Is that fair?

Maybe it’s not for us to say, but we certainly have our opinions, our righteous indignation, and our certainty about what should be. We’d love to set ‘em all straight and tell ‘em how it would be if we were in charge.

How does that saying go? The one about what you wish for…?

Have the American People Spoken to Egypt?

For the United States government to send Egypt wishes of happiness and success is a little like Michael Vick sending words of encouragement to the American Kennel Club.

Can we maintain any degree of credibility in the Middle East now that our duplicity is common knowledge? Or put more accurately: Can we regain or even attain credibility? How?

The word is out that a string of United States presidents supported Hosni Mubarak’s oppressive regime for lo these many decades because it suited us. It was our means to our ends. We got what we wanted from the Egyptian government; and it wasn’t so hard to turn a blind eye to its abuse of its own people. Shame on us.

We’re embarrassed for our President who now must smile and offer his hand (our hands) with a disingenuous blush as he congratulates those who see us for who we’ve been. As Google’s Regional Marketing Manager, Wael Ghonim, unofficial leader of the essentially bloodless revolution said very plainly, “Dear Western Governments: You have been supporting the regime that was oppressing us for 30 years. Please don’t get involved now. We don’t need you.”

In toppling Mubarak, they have, in effect, thrown us off their backs as well.

How cynical we were in the process to show early support for Mubarak’s heir apparent, Vice President Suleiman, when the world has read WikiLeaks. We initially backed the one clearly shown in embassy cables to be Mubarak’s consigliere! “Oops! Forgot you could read. Really, we want the people’s demands to be met. We support their quest for democracy, justice, and empowerment.” How hollow.

I’ve been reminded that the United States was in league with the Russians to win WWI and even with the unspeakable Stalin in WWII. So the enemies of our enemies became our friends. We stood with the unsavory and defeated the devil himself together. But then, when the common goal was achieved, we each withdrew to our respective corners.

Not so with Mubarak or his predecessors. We stuck by them and their cronies. It was convenient, the path of least resistance. Maybe because the goal of our deal with that devil was subterranean, open-ended, a Viet Nam of commitment, our government just kept pretending it was OK. After all, the Egyptian people hadn’t found their voice (or Facebook) yet.

Yes, I know. Politics makes strange bedfellows (see WWI and WWII, above). But if the United States is truly exceptional in the world arena, we’ve got to do better.

We believe in our uniqueness in the world. We built our nation on the concept of freedom and the fundamental right of humans to enjoy all its benefits. But if we don’t have the courage of our founding ideals, we surely will shrivel into the realm of the disrespected and be treated with disregard.

Here’s an idealistic dream: If we encounter another snake in the grass, let’s not make friends with it and bring it mice to eat. And let’s not become obliged to it either. At the very least, let’s step around it. If we want to help human beings, we must help them all, even if it is only through our refusal to support the morally corrupt and self-serving tyrants who oppress them.

Let’s tell the truth and turn away from evil. What evil is necessary? Only that which serves selfish ends. It seems we have soiled ourselves with the evil of abandoning one human for the benefit of another. It’s not okay. Ghonim says it best with the title of his Facebook page which sparked a revolution: “We are all Khaled Said,” referring to a young man beaten to death for speaking out against Mubarak’s brutal police state.

You say you want a revolution? Well you know, we all want to change the world. This time, the world is changing in spite of us. A section of the globe we haven’t heard, or haven’t listened to, is speaking. How have we positioned ourselves to be respected and influential in the conversation?

So it is with mixed emotions that we watch the historic events unfolding in Egypt and across the Middle East: With awe, with joy, and with anticipation for the Egyptian people. With anxiety and hope for the people of Tunisia and Iran, Bahrain and Yemen.

With humble heart for America.