Ringing in 2005 with the well-dressed crowds in Kiev's Independence Square was an electric experience. With dignity, stubbornness, and savvy echoing the Czechs' 1989 Velvet Revolution, the old was brushed aside to make way for the new. Everything felt possible.

I focused on the carnival atmosphere, as hard-nosed revolution quickly blended with good-natured kitsch. The euphoria and...
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Ringing in 2005 with the well-dressed crowds in Kiev's Independence Square was an electric experience. With dignity, stubbornness, and savvy echoing the Czechs' 1989 Velvet Revolution, the old was brushed aside to make way for the new. Everything felt possible.

I focused on the carnival atmosphere, as hard-nosed revolution quickly blended with good-natured kitsch. The euphoria and grace of it all was a bracing contrast to the gloom many Americans were feeling after George W. Bush's election to a second term. Compared with the people-power theater in Kiev, Bush's inauguration parade in Washington a few weeks later felt like a high-security coronation in Sparta.

Ukrainians' enthusiasm and expectations have hit the inevitable wall of reality. Still, there's no going back. The Orange Revolution has become a contemporary model for peaceful change. The promise lives, and may yet prove to be enduring.
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