Photo courtesy of muni-vision.blogspot.com

My plan: Spend spring break taking a business school class in Cairo, with a side trip to the pyramids.

As you can imagine, I’m fishing around for a Plan B right now.

(If you’ve been on an Outward Bound trip or similarly living under a rock, check out the latest on Egypt here).

When the protests first started in Cairo, my classmates and I passed around New York Times stories and told each other that the whole thing would probably blow over.

But I wasn’t sure I wanted it to just blow over. If the Egyptian people had a chance to create a positive change in their country, who cared if my spring break got ruined? The sight of people – mostly young people – protesting against an autocratic regime filled me with pride, hope and worry, just as the sight of Iranian young people filling the streets of Tehran did last year.

At last, I thought. It must have been how my parents felt watching the Berlin Wall fall.

Unfortunately, Iran did not go the way of the Soviet Union. And it’s too early to tell which path Egypt will choose. I’ve heard a lot of speculation in the last few days, and all I can say is that I hope they pick a way that leads to freedom and equality. I realize that’s far easier to type than it is to realize.

Back on Planet Privilege, I’m dealing with the upper class problems of getting my plane tickets refunded and figuring out how to make up the class credit I’m losing. One potentially option I’m exploring is a week-long class in New Orleans, focused on the recovery since Hurricane Katrina.

 In many ways, that’s fitting. As Egyptians struggle to overthrow a corrupt and autocratic government that has often favored the wealthy, I’ll be looking at what happens when even the most resourceful and democratic of nations lets its poorest citizens down.

 It has all the makings of a good Plan B.

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