"What color is your index finger?"

It was an amazing thing to me to watch as Iraqis voted for the first time in an open election. I wasn’t intrigued by the politics of the situation, but by the human expressions revealed that day.

For instance, a man injured by a car bomb was carried miles to his polling place. A woman whose husband was killed walked miles with her children to vote. An old man, who said he thought he’d never live long enough to see this day, shuffled his feet for three miles to cast his ballot. These people voted, despite personal adversity, long distances, and threat of death.

And the ironic symbol of all of this first-time voting was an ink-stained index finger. Who would have thought a security measure would become a symbol of national pride? And yet, resilient Iraqis held up their stained index fingers, some even in a V for Victory. Why even some members of our Congress stained their index finger to honor the sacrifices of our troops and the Iraqis.

You just never know what symbol we’ll use to express the joy of listening to life and making a life, do you?