The news that Egypt’s beleaguered president had finally stepped down after 18 days of mass protests came at an inconvenient time for some customers at Plaza Café where three of its staff members are Egyptian.Sushi chef, Ahmed Ali, the most revolutionary of the three was hard at work catering to the lunchtime crowd when the news came on the television screen behind him. “I stopped work. I had to watch the news,” he said.Six hours later, Ali was still grinning. “This is what I needed. Now I am happy, because when I say I am Egyptian, I can say ‘I am Egyptian’,” he said gesturing with pride. Now we must become one team. Before, we were afraid of the police in the streets. Maybe now when we see the police, we will greet them. Now that he’s gone, we’ll be together. We can choose our president.”“He’s the winner,” joked Executive Chef Mohamed Wafik, who a week earlier had argued that the protesters end their insistence that Mubarak leave office immediately.Ali had played his part in Mubarak’s ouster by helping to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. “All of this is happening because of the young people and Facebook,” beamed Ali.Few would disagree. “Older people have said we’ve always wanted to do what the younger people have done,” said Ali’s colleague, Amre Gelsayed, 50. “When the old are saying congratulations to the young, with tears in their eyes, it’s a great release of power.”Gelsayed was off sick and watched the news on CNN at home. “I just was in tears, to be honest with you,” he said. “I cried.”Gelsayed, like Wafik, had also been hoping that the thousands who were protesting in Egypt would accept their gains and end the protests. Forcing Mubarak out prematurely, he argued, could create a dangerous power vacuum. But the protests in Egypt continued, and gained fresh momentum when Mubarak announced again that he was staying on. Watching history unfold from thousands of miles away, Gelsayed found himself full of admiration for his compatriots. “I was very impressed. There could have been violence,” following Mubarak’s final speech.For Gelsayed, that was the beauty of the moment. The lessons from violent conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the non- violence ethos of other struggles had been applied in Egypt, he said. “I think we consolidated these ideas and came together.”So instead of an orgy of violence, the demonstrators marched on symbols of Mubarak’s rule in a massive show of non-violent outrage.Within 24 hours, the military had taken over. That marked the end of the beginning of Egypt’s revolution-in- progress. So far, so good, says Gelsayed. The military has moved quickly to fulfil the people’s will by taking concrete steps such as dissolving parliament, suspending the constitution and doubling the salaries of police officers.But the real question for some is whether the army will be able to build a lasting democracy in Egypt. “Our army is good. The army is the best institution in Egypt now, but they cannot take care (of Egypt) forever,” said Wafik. “Only for a little time. Until another Mubarak.”And with that uncertainty, Wafik is still questioning whether democracy is worth the loss of life.“A lot of boys died. Are their families happy or not happy?”