Elections

On Friday, November 24th, there was an eerie calm throughout my neighborhood. For the last month or so there had been a busyness about a few select areas, where political candidates set up tents and spent the evening schmoozing voters, drinking tea and making good conversation. I took the opportunity to visit one of the election tents with a friend from church, where we quickly made friends with the candidate and his staff, exchanging numbers and promises to visit and learn/teach Arabic. Conversation ranged from the basics of Bahrain Government, to the candidates chances of being elected, to the differences between Christianity and Islam.

But on Friday, it was the calm before the storm. There was, in my mind at least, a certain uneasiness. You see, this is only the second time in the history of Bahrain that elections were taking place. In 2002, the new constitution came into effect, allowing for a congress-like assembly to be elected by the population. However, there were lots of protests, including a large portion of the public who refrained from voting.

Would this year be the same?

On Election Day, Saturday, I took a taxi to the mall. On the way, I started asking the driver about the elections and whether or not he had voted. He immediately showed his cynicism at the “elections”. And not without reason. Little tangible progress can be seen in the last four years. But the taxi soon got stuck in traffic. The driver quickly started to maneuver through the side streets, attempting to bypass the snarled traffic. But it was to no avail. People were out voting in large numbers.

As we drove by the nearby polling place, I saw a vast array of people. But what struck me most was a man who proudly walked out of the building, a small boy trying to keep up. He was dressed in a suit, which was shabby at best. But pride radiated out of him as he walked tall away from the election booths. He had cast his vote and was deciding his own fate.

Cynicism rooted in the past vs. hope reaching for the future. Bitterness grown from legitimate experiences contrasted with joy in what might be.

By that evening, I had been to the mall, done some shopping and taken a much needed nap. I was awakened around 7:30pm to a throng of honking car horns and an army of shouting voices. I immediately went to the window, wondering if I would find partiers or protesters. As I gazed out, I saw a line of 50-some cars filled with people, honking horns and shouting for joy, I assume because their candidate won. They held the political advertisements their candidate had posted and proudly displayed them for all to see.

For now, at least, Hope had replaced Cynicism. In tangible terms, only a small step has been made. But the hurdle of having peaceful elections is one that few countries have jumped so painlessly.

However, anyone who has paid even the slightest attention to American politics will know that it doesn’t take long to become bitter and jaded towards the political system. And as long as politics is run by man, the system will continue to cause bitterness and apathy.

Hopefully the wisdom of the elders will help direct the relentless, sometimes aimless, energy of the young. And hopefully the drive and hope of the young will not be deterred by the lack of enthusiasm of the cynical. Maybe, for a while at least, strides will be made in the system, postponing for a while the apathy that politics eventually brings.

As if on cue, as I write this at 11:39 pm on Sunday night, another makeshift parade of honking cars and enthusiastic voters are now passing my apartment complex, letting every one know that they are happy. Hopefully my loss of sleep the last few nights will not grow bitterness in me.