Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and who knows where the next revolution will be? Maybe Wisconsin? In the past month there has been much in the world that has changed. In decades past a government could control the message if it controlled the sources of communications to the people. In a place where there was no freedom of the press where the television, radio and newspapers were operated only with the authority of the government (or strongarm in charge), parceling out limited information was easy.
In today's world with Facebook, Twitter, Text Messages, IM, and Cell Phones, we have seen that an entire revolution is possible within a matter of weeks. With the page entitled, "We Are All Khaled Said," a revolution was born in Egypt with events communicated to followers from one single site, an humble FB page. On January 24, 2011, even the venerable Time Magazine speculated whether 80,000 followers who clicked "like" on their computers really would appear in Tahrir Square for Revolution Day on January 25 as requested. Tahrir Square is a new symbol for freedom because far more than 80,000 protesters answered the call on January 25 and stayed for days on end until their voices were heard and their demands for new leadership were met.
Today the fever has spread across North Africa to Libya. The situation is far worse there because the some portions of the army are turning on the people and killing them. These may be hired mercenaries, but accurate information is hard to obtain. There is no turning back now for this part of the world. Gadafi and his band of thugs will not last. They do not have the resources to hold out for long, and they are trapped in Tripoli. In the view of many experts he will not leave Libya alive. In fact, his son has said he has Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C -- to live and die in Libya. Will he kill himself before being taken alive? Who knows? The man seems to be genuinely crazy.
And I have my own big change occurring. For the first time in almost twenty years I am making a job change. In one sense it is not so big. I am still going to be working with many of the same people that I have seen day after day for the last eighteen or so years. On the other hand, I will be saying good-bye to the most wonderful group of friends anyone could ask to work with -- my law partners and staff. I am going to work in-house for one of my clients, and it is the chance to do something meaningful. I get the opportunity to mentor the next generation of leaders in the law organization of a major corporation. How cool is that? Of course I don't know everything, but I do have 27 years worth of experience. So I can at least tell people -- here are some of my mistakes, don't do what I did; try it another way that will get a better result.
I have also gotten back serious about my mediation again. I realized how much I had missed having that balance in my life. And once-in-a-while simply was not cutting it. It is truly amazing what a difference it makes when I make the time every day to go inside myself, get quiet and focus. Asking for peace, love and compassion and to be able to share that with other people may be asking for a lot. I think it is okay to dream big though.
It's got to start within me I found out. So my personal Revolution is to have Peace, Love and Compassion within myself. I hope it will show.
Good night everybody.
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