Now, to all those who support the cause for immediate restoration of democracy in Nepal, but are skeptical about the effectiveness of the rally that is being organized half way around the world... First and foremost, my friends, please remember that it is a very simple matter of freedom of expression. If we are to deprive ourselves of our own very basic, fundamental rights just because of the fear of ineffectiveness of the rally, then we'd be no worse than the King who deprives his people of those very rights. The right to freedom of expression is OURS, and let us use it! We all have travelled thousands of miles to an alien land because we all had our own respective dreams. Some of us will go back, others won't. Some of us may be seriously contemplating the idea of returning, while others just don't care -- those are the freewill of every individual that must be respected. Nevertheless, the differences in personal choices of ways of livings do little to undermine the love for the land that we all grew up in, and the place that we all can commonly dearly associate with. It is in this spirit that -- even though some of us may not be able to/or want to return to our beloved land -- the least we can do is show our support for those who are fighting for people's rights back home. Those who are risking jail, torture, or in some extreme cases "disappearance", to peacefully struggle for the much-needed genuine empowerment of the people are brave souls whom we must all have utmost respect for. Showing solidarity is one way to do so. And being at the rally is one way of expressing solidarity. At this critical juncture in our country's history, it has become imperative that we all stop and think of what kind of country that we all desire say, in 20, or even 50 years from now. We have lived under autocracies of one form or the other for most of our modern political history. It is about time we began to let go of the concept of needing a "father figure" to guide us all the time. It is about time that we begin to have confidence in ourselves, individually AND collectively. And it is about time that we began to arouse better awareness among the people who still believe that an "individual" other than ourselves has the solutions to OUR problems. It is about time we fought absolutism of the King so that then we can effectively fight the tyranny of the Maoists, with the best weapon available: freewill of the people. The rally is one way of making our voices heard, showing our support for all those who dare to believe in us, spreading our message of people's power, and creating better awareness amongst ourselves, so that when all is said and done, we will have a country that is thriving with democracy. There is absolutely NO alternative to democracy in a multi-ethnic and pluralistic society like ours. Washington, DC, may 15th, Sunday. BE THERE!