TIME reports that Cindy McCain has left for Georgia tonight as part of a coalition of the United Nations’ World Food Program. She plans to meet with the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, as well as visiting wounded Georgian troops. Serving on the board of The HALO Trust, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to remove the “debris of war” (landmines), Cindy will also visit HALO representatives.

According to The Moscow Times, Cindy will land in Tbilisi and then travel to the town of Gori. Heavily damaged by the attack on August 8th by the Russian Forces, Gori is ironically the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. Coincidentally, I have a friend who also recently toured Gori and reports that Gori suffered damage to its transportation, energy, government and residential infrastructure as a result of the Russian bombings.

Here is a picture of an apartment building where sixteen citizens were killed and thirteen were injured:

An especially chilling photo is this one, of a Russian missile that landed (mostly intact) in a family’s home.

Of an estimated 130,000 displaced people, about 5,000 have returned to Gori.

The struggles of those yearning to obtain a democracy and those who struggle to maintain their fragile ones should make us all stop for a moment to appreciate ours.

Let’s also take a moment to appreciate Cindy McCain and my friend, Jim. To them, “not self, but others” is so much more than a motto - it’s a way of life.