THE SINGING REVOLUTION

If you've never watched this wonderful documentary, do yourself a favor and find it on your local PBS or rent it from your online dvd rental company. It's essentially a history of Estonia, a little known Baltic state that was actually the first to declare independence from the Soviet Union.

It's an amazing film because it really helps you to understand how precious liberty is. We take it for granted here since we've had freedom for hundreds of years. But poor Estonia has had a long history of foreign occupation so their sense of freedom is very different from ours.

You may have never heard of Estonia, but I've been there and had absolutely no idea what they went through. I just knew that they were part of the Soviet Union at one point and that they were very happy to break away because they could once again pursue prosperity. Still wondering what comes out of Estonia? Skype, the free Internet phone was invented in Estonia.

Estonia's non-violent revolution is an amazing story. After watching it, it made me wonder if it's possible to make something as extraordinary about the Philippine People's Power uprising. Sadly, as amazing as that event was, the economic and social conditions in the Philippines is nothing like Estonia's. Why is that?