Dispatches from Cairo

Events in Egypt are changing more rapidly than anyone has the time to process. However, even on autopilot, I was aware I was witnessing an important turning-point in the country's history.

by Sarah Moawad

Autopilot is an amazing thing - that human ability to keep going, to keep existing, numbly, to move on and forget, despite the madness and the chaos unfurling around us.

I returned to the US this week after a two-month trip to Egypt. Much of that time I was on autopilot - trying to get from one place to another, trying to visit family members, trying to navigate the cities - and I am only just now taking a moment to process and make sense of what is happening in the country, both above and below the surface.

Events in the country are rapidly changing and evolving, before anyone has a chance to investigate or probe deeper, and are just as rapidly forgotten. I’ve realized that the only way to survive in Egypt right now is not to question too much, or think too much, or process too much. Because things are happening faster than our minds can possibly comprehend them, and with no explanation. So we tune out the noise, and we forget. And another day comes with its own challenges.