All the World's a Stage

The Mid East and parts of North Africa have become a sea of red. The scope and intensity of the uprisings has become so vast and so overwhelming that the New York Times now reports this in daily updates with lines, graphs and twitter length synopsis. Today, we are provided keys relating to "protests, protests with violence, and day when government tries to appease demonstrators". It is mind numbing.

It becomes increasingly difficult to figure out where we are, and almost impossible to determine where we are going. Are we watching Pandora's box open? This all takes on a surreal feeling, almost like a giant play, with many characters, that has been unfolding since the day that a fruit vendor in Tunisia set himself ablaze and seemed to ignite a fire in an entire region.

People, no different from you or me except for the accident of where they happen to live, are dying each and every day in the name of self-worth and dignity. It cannot be an abstraction and yet it is. We sit by and discuss what kind of sanctions to impose upon the ruler of Libya while he systematically attempts to destroy his own.

Tonight we turn our attention to the Oscars. The entire world will tune in to watch who is the best at the craft of make believe. Meanwhile, the most compelling of human dramas rages on. On this stage, the question posed seems to be which ruler is the worst. "And the award for most virulent despot goes to".... There are far too many front-runners and far too few answers.