The Wall Comes Down

Twenty years ago today I was a senior in high school, and my biggest problems were figuring out what skinny leg jeans to wear crusing on Riverside, and how high did my bangs really need to be. Suffice it to say that I was mostly unaware of the impending end to the Cold War, and the significance of the Berlin Wall coming down.

At that age being politically against anything is considered cool, so sure, me and my friends listened to Pink Floyd's The Wall and pondered what the destruction of the Berlin Wall would mean for us. It was hard to picture what the changes might be, because we had not lived through the most terrifying years of the Cold War, at least not at an age to grasp the concept. I remember hoping it meant that we would never have to face the atrocities of a nuclear war.

Now it's twenty years later, and just how much has changed? Some would say a lot, others not so much. Families seperated by the wall were reunited, and there were celebrations world-wide. It was an occasion to celebrate. But like so many momentous events, once the ticker tape was gone, and the revelers had emptied from the streets not much else was said. Think back to how much the same happened after 9/11. We were all filled with patriotic pride, Democrats and Republicans stood side by side vowing to stand united in the war on terror. We wore flag pins and displayed our patiotism on the windows of our cars.

But before long, the Democrats and Republicans returned to their party lines, the flags once proudly displayed outside homes became faded as our memories of that fateful day. And that is a real shame, for there were many lessons to be learned and not forgotten.

I am reminded of a speech I gave for 4-H in middle school about the divided Germany. Through my research I learned about children who didn't live in a free country like mine. When the wall came down I remembered that speech and thought of the kids I had read about, and their restricted lives. I prayed they would at long last be free, truly free, which I still pray and hope today. My point? Well, I think I have one, which would be that we should not and cannot forget the important lessons in life. We cannot forget what oppression does to the entire world at large. And, most importantly, we cannot forget how far we've come, or where we started from.