2/24/11, Letter to Editor, The Columbus Dispatch

From Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, to Pearl Square in Manama, Bahrain, revolutionary fever runs throughout the Arab world. Slogans from the streets of Yemen ring, only to reverberate in the streets of Iran. But at what cost? The usurpation of the very rights of others that they themselves demand? Through looting and violence, the Arab world will raise from among them another Ahmadinejad or Gadhafi.

The deaths of two protesters are mourned in Bahrain but the anti-government protest remains peaceful. That is the example the rest of the Muslim world must follow. For in peaceful, lawful disobedience will their voices be heard. Louder than the crackle of a burning police station or the shattering of a window, will their peaceful actions resonate.

As a 15-year-old Muslim American, I urge the Arab world to look at Bahrain as the example, as it, too, strives to achieve freedom.