Egypt Freed -

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. You won your fight for freedom, and in only 2 weeks! The two rallies of support that I witnessed in Toronto were amazing. The police were great, smiling, and very helpful for the cause. Not once while I was out photographing this did I see any problem with either the protesters, or the general public.

There is one thing that disgusts me though, comments from people who call themselves “real Canadians”. Depending on the subject, I sometimes read/write comments on news stories. I got to about the bottom of page one of comments (about 5 comments in) and was shocked at the level of vitriol against the Egyptian people. I’m not sure if it’s just because they are uninformed, but this seems to be an on going hatred against ANYONE not “Canadian”. This is kind of funny. Funny in a sad sort of way. Funny in a …they don’t know history way. It MAY come as a shock to you, but we are almost ALL of some sort of Canadian of _______________ descent. Unless your family has ties to North America BEFORE 1492, were ALL immigrants!

I really don’t know what else to say. The level of hate is so high that it boggles the mind. “There are no Egyptian - Canadians, only Canadians, or Egyptians” … “Good, now you can go back to Egypt” … “Good, you’re in Canada now, go back to work” …

Where did we go wrong? When did Canada become full of bigots, and people who cannot grasp a simple concept? “Get back to Work” is so overused right now. I was at both protests, but missed the celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square due to work. Maybe a few people did skip work for this, however, I would suspect since both protests were on SATURDAYS, a good portion of those people DID NOT HAVE TO WORK that day. The celebration last night was after 6pm…again, most people not having to work. Personally, I think that the…what maybe 8 hours over the last 3 weeks that people were protesting is a good use of time. You likely weren’t there. I was. It was incredible. It was a show of support from people who were ABLE to flee the regime. Just because they are here does NOT mean that they give up everything from their homelands. Many have family who are STILL there. This week, the families are in a better position. There is still much hardship to continue. It will likely be ‘status quo’ for a while to come. Yes, there won’t be NEARLY as much tyranny, but people will still be impoverished.

I’m proud to be a Canadian. I’m proud of most of what my country does. It’s sometime my fellow Countrymen that I have a problem with. Some of them just don’t seem to understand that there is more to this world that just the little slice that they inhabit. Some don’t seem to understand that it’s not ALL ABOUT WORK. Take time for yourself. Do what YOU love. If it’s helping your family so be it, that after all, is what THE PEOPLE who were there were doing. And they were not all from Egypt either! Why is it that, we APPARENTLY sent our troops to Afghanistan to promote democracy (though it hasn’t REALLY worked) yet the same people who support them, spew such vitriol against people doing the SAME THING, but in a non-violent way. It’s mind-boggling to think that people can actually be such hypocrites, but, I guess that’s where we are now.

Do something good in your life, don’t just spew hatred for everyone NOT like you, people that may not have the same values as you. Find something that you ARE passionate about and pour yourself into it for a bit. Donate to charity, volunteer at a hospital or nursing home, do something productive. Now do yourself a favour - GET BACK TO WORK!