Yesterday, when I was leaving work, I flipped the radio to NPR just in time to hear the tail end of a blurb announcing the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

I immediately felt sick. I'm not sure why.

As many of you know, my good friends Emily and Griff were living in Pakistan (Griff is still there), so I feel a connection with that place, but I'm not really knowledgable about Pakistan's politics or history and I'm not necessarily a fan of Bhutto. I'm not sure she was any better than any of the other power-wielding elite in that region, so my strong reaction to the news of her death was cause for thought.

I think maybe, subconsciously, for me, she symbolized the possibility of peaceful opposition. I think that is the only thing that separates the US from the worst, most unstable, corrupted, or oppressed nations in the world--our ability to peacefully oppose, challenge, and exchange control of government. No matter how hard they work to erradicate extremists in Pakistan, no matter how many poppy farms are converted to other successful ventures in Afghanistan, no mattter how many elections we hold in Baghdad, no matter how many nuclear agreements we have with Pyongyang, or how many human rights protests we have over China, or how many roadmaps we develop in Palestine, or how many missle defense shields we put up in eastern Europe, no matter how many UN peacekeepers are in Darfur, and no matter how many sanctions we impose against Iran and Cuba--until there is repect for life, and a devotion to the existance of peaceful opposition, there will never be peace and security in the world, no matter what we do or how much money we spend. And the saddest, most frightening thing is that I feel like this one, most basic democratic value is even under stain here in the US. We're not perfect by any means.

Lord, what if there are fifty righteous people in the world? What if there are only ten? The world needs your grace.

If you want to follow the events in Pakistan, I recommend Griff's articles for the Washington Post, for which he is the Pakistan correspondent. I've found that his articles are much more informative than the stripped-down, terriblely generic pieces that are widely published by media from the AP. Here's a link to one of his recent articles. You may need to register with the Post in order to read it, but that is a free and easy process.