As the world’s media remain fixated on Egypt and what will become of President Hosni Mubarak and a post-Mubarak era, the Tunisian revolution is still a work in progress.

The sudden rise of political protests just three weeks ago in Tunisia, a country where protests had rarely been seen, resulted in days of demonstrations and the sudden and totally unexpected departure on January 14 of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled Tunisia with an autocratic hand since November 1987. During the initial post–Ben Ali days, it seemed that Tunisia was out of control, or at least that is how it was portrayed by the international media who parachuted into Tunisia, with most journalists focusing on the demonstrations in the heart of Tunis.

While many segments of society wanted to immediately address economic grievances, people from teachers and policeman to health-care workers and administrators found the courage to put aside their personal needs at the request of the transitional government and return to work, with the promise that in short time these various grievances will be addressed.

To be sure, not all is perfect in Tunisia, nor is the transition an easy one for Tunisians. There have been scattered resistance groups, many thought to be remaining Ben Ali loyalists simply creating havoc for their own agenda. But the facts that were overlooked by those in the international media, nearly all of whom have left Tunisia, was that beyond the main avenues of central Tunis, one could see Tunisians helping to shape their own destiny.

Tunisians seem to have an attitude of wanting to help their country and one another, a phenomenon not unlike the post-9/11 environment in the United States. Civil society has been rallying around its “Tunisianess.”

Hopefully, other autocratic leaders will listen to their populaces and recognize that the era of repression eventually comes to an end. One can transition from it and try to exit gracefully and strategically, or remain blind to it and create further havoc. The “Tunisian playbook” does not have all the answers, but cautious optimism remains.

— Jerry Sorkin splits his time between Tunis and Philadelphia and, in July 2010, was elected president of the American Tunisian Association. These views are his own.