The Berlin Wall

[droops]

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Washington Post today had a very good collage of photographs as well as a nice narration from someone who was there. If you have a minute, it's worth reading

Comments

[djfavorite]

I so remember that day 20 years ago. I also remember being jealous of my cousin, who was stationed there. He climbed the wall and there's a quick glimse of him on one of the news reports while he was on that wall (I don't remember which one, but my Uncle has a copy of the clip.) My cousin managed to get several pieces of the wall that day and he gave one of those pieces to my mom & dad.

I don't know what my cousin did. I remember him always joking about the 'I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you' line. I'm sure the Fall changed his job. There was no more 'enemy' to spy on (I'm sure that's what he did).

[droops]

Yea, no doubt some sort of counter-espionage. I guess he doesn't speak of it today either.

It's hard to forget that day, even if it has been two decades. It was simply marvelous.

[djfavorite]

No, he doesn't talk about it. But that's because he died in a car accident almost 13 years ago. Hit some black ice on the road that caused him to skid into a light pole. That was a tough day for me. Of all my cousins, I felt he and I were the closest. Which is funny, since we didn't grow up together (he grew up in Ohio and me in Arizona). But we had so many of the same interests growing up.

It's funny, that when I hear about the Berlin Wall I always think about him and how lucky he was to have been there.

[droops]

I'm sorry, I didn't know. That sucks. But I agree with you, he was lucky. I SO wanted to be there!

[estaratshirai]

I loved that moment so much. I was young enough then to think it was the birth of the new Golden Age.

So much for that. :P But it was still beautiful.

[droops]

Anne Applebaum, writing in the Washington Post today, quoted a friend as saying that these days are the best in Central Europe in the last 300 years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/08/AR2009110817809.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Another story I read today said that when the newly democratic government in Poland approached the U.S. about joining NATO, the American diplomatic response was an angry rebuff. Again, how times change.

Maybe not a perfect Golden Age, but pretty good. It's hard to think about how much worse it could have been, and turned out not to be.

[estaratshirai]

Well, I remain glad that the Cold War is gone, of course, and all of the implied threats that hung heavier over our heads because of that then as opposed to now. And I'm very happy for central Europe, which after all is where a lot of my genes come from. :D

But when I say "Golden Age" I mean that I really did think that it was the start of all the countries in Western Civilization holding hands and skipping through the flowers into a future of enlightened, consensus-based prosperity. Peace on Earth, good will to men, the whole nine yards. Because I was nineteen. :D I even thought the first round of Desert Storm was actually evidence of that, because that time, everyone seemed to be behind us. Hussein had invaded another country, and Our Civilized World just didn't have room for that kind of nonsense any more. La!

[droops]

Yea, I hear you. The funny thing about such momentous events is they're neither as good nor as bad as we initially make them out to be. But I think humans want big markers like this in our lives sometimes.

I try to take the best parts, in this case, and then hope that the bad parts are fixed or behind us. Not always the easiest thing to do of course.

[thtrelady]

I remember watching it on the news with my parents and thinking that it meant my Dad would always be around now. And that I would not die in nuclear holocaust. I remember a tremendous sense of relief.

It's surprising sometimes how deeply ingrained the propaganda against the U.S.S.R. really is in me. I'll have to find time today to write up various stories.

[droops]

Some of that ingrained teaching is legitimate, some isn't. It's hard to parse it all sometimes. But the sense of relief was real, and real threats did disappear that day.

[droops]

My pleasure, and it really brought back some great memories for me personally. Those were heady days.