Democracy

My reflections on democracy

Without education and freedom of thought, I cannot begin to fathom how democracy can come into play.
In turn, freedom of thought cannot flourish unless it is nourished with a good dose of education.
So, in my mind, democracy, freedom of thought and education are analogous to components of a tree, where democracy is ultimately the fruit analogue.
Of course, you will ask, how about the branches and leaves and the effect of the seasons on the tree’s components?
For that, I offer the following analogies:
The branches carry the leaves and fruit.
On the other hand, the seasons lead to the birth and decay of the leaves.
So, if the fruit is democracy, then the branches, in their varied forms and shapes, are the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.
The leaves provide the food to the tree via a special interaction with light, therefore, in the analogous system that I delved into; I must come up with the equivalent element in the path to democracy.
The one that closely resembles the leaves are the political parties.
If they are effective, they will help in the nourishing the democratic season.
They will come into power when they are voted in and go out of power when they are voted out.
The voting process thus is the equivalent to the seasonal effects.
That finally leaves us with a vital component of a tree, namely: its roots.
I am sure that you must by now have guessed that these represent the complex conduits for providing the nourishment to the tree from external sources.
In the democracy analogue, these are a combination of educational institution, heritage, religions, ideologies etc., which in liaison with the other tree components, lead to the democratic fruit.
I am aware that a tree’s life-cycle, from seed to fruit is confronted by many challenges, none of which can be ignored.
Take for example the birds, bees, wind, rain, human intervention, etc.
For these, I leave it to your imagination to come up with analogues of the challenges to democracy!
Needless to say, some are beneficial and others are detrimental.


In closing, I have one request: Please do not get carried away and ask me about what happens to the fruit when it is ripe!
My reasoning via the tree analogy was only to take you to the fruit!


Hani Badawi
March 18, 2011