Thoughts on Democracy

Political demonstration as viewed from our office

I am convinced that we take our freedoms and our democracy for granted. This has been brought to our minds so forcefully over the last week as we have "lived" through the coup in Honduras. The was a relatively peaceful coup.....really a political coup and not a military one. We haven't felt threatened in any way or felt in danger at all. What worries me is how quickly people can react to ideologies and beliefs of others and be persuaded by them.

We have been able to watch several demonstrations from our mission office. The Casa Presidencial is within about 1/2 mile from our office. That is where the seat of government is here in Honduras and where most of the political demonstrations have been staged. We are accustomed to hearing helicopters overhead and to see people marching down the street for whatever side they are on. For the most part, things have been peaceful and the demonstrations have not gotten out of hand.

Helicopter over the Casa Presidencial

Last Thursday we were able to capture some video from our office. This was a demonstration for democracy and the right that the Honduran people have to protect that democracy. The people all wore white and blue...the flag colors of Honduras. The Casa Presidencial is where the huge Honduran flag flies. We also took photos of some of the people leaving the demonstration that walked down our street.

People leaving the demonstrations wearing flags

A whole family walking for democracy

As we went to Church Sunday there were some things that were unsettled. The leaders had decided that we should only hold Sacrament Meeting (testimony day). Each building held one meeting so the wards were combined. It was interesting to us that the opening hymn was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". When they started testimonies they announced that we should bear brief testimony so that all could participate that wanted to and that we were not to make any political comments.

Here is a video we took from our office to give you the perspective: