And the Wall came tumbling down...

Last night was the big celebration here in Berlin to commemorate the Berlin Wall coming down on November 9, 1989.  Brad and I thought it would be cool to go downtown and take part in all the festivities.  So, I packed up the kids and we took the train to Potsdamer Platz where we met Brad.  I am SO glad we took the train rather than try to drive our car - the crowds were outrageous, and we'd probably still be stuck in traffic if we'd tried to drive!

Unfortunately, the weather was crummy.  Lots of rain and mud.  Oh well.  We were all soggy, but we're getting used to just carrying on in spite of the rain.

Luke was in his "Big Boy Cart" (we don't dare call it a stroller for fear he won't ride in it if he feels like a baby).  That is him under the plastic wad in the picture.  We got a rain shield for the Big Boy Cart, and Luke had the best seat in the house for the whole event.

We noticed that there were several "angels" on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the festivities.

We never did figure out what they were doing up there, or what they symbolized.  Any ideas?

We stood out in the rain for quite a while, listening to diplomats and foreign Big Wigs talk about freedom and the human spirit.  I'm sure the kids and I would have gotten a lot more out of it if it had been in English.  Oh well.

Because of the crowds, there were big screens set up so we could see the speakers.  The white blob on the screen here is Hillary Clinton.  She did speak in English, but all we could hear over the loud speakers was her German translater.

The highlight of the evening for me was seeing Jon Bon Jovi.  He has been on My List for years now.  He sang "We Weren't Born to Follow." 

I think this is a good indicator of how far Berlin has come in 20 years.  When the Wall came down in 1989, it was David Hasselhoff who sang.  Now, 20 years later, it is Jon Bon Jovi.  You do the math.

For the big celebration, Berlin had asked various artists and students to paint these big styrofoam blocks.  Then, they set up the blocks like dominoes along where the Wall used to stand.

At the end of all the speeches and music, there was a big drum roll, and the first styrofoam block was knocked down, starting the chain that knocked them all over.  It was really awesome!  Everyone cheered as the Fake Wall fell down piece by piece for two kilometers.  Then, there were fireworks at Brandenburg Gate, but we left before that started.  It was time to get the kids home.

After it was all over and we were home, I started to think back to 1989 when the Wall came down.  In my little world as a college student, it still made an impact.  The Berlin Wall had been standing for my whole lifetime, and I had learned about it during my whole career as a student.  Suddenly, with very little ado, it was just down.  That seemed amazing.  It seemed too easy to simply end decades of repression and political differences with a press announcement.  No big war or killing or major country changes.   It just stopped, because the people in charge decided it should.  Amazingly peaceful.  I don't mean to undermine the people who fought against it for years, or down-play the major event it was for the people of Germany.  But the peaceable nature of the Wall coming down seems like a miracle.

But what is even more mind-blowing to me is that it was even built in the first place.  Back in 1961, someone somehow decided that the best way to handle the dissatisfaction of East Germany was to build a wall to keep the people in and separated from what they saw in the West.  And, enough people agreed with this idea to set the course in action that would lead to an actual concrete wall being built along the border between the East and West.  Does this sound ridiculous to anyone else?  Isn't it childish to force people to stay in a situation where they are not happy, rather than try to change the situation so they will want to stay?  And to do so with a WALL?  Seriously, A WALL?  Like I said, this is what I find amazing about the Berlin Wall - that it even existed at all.

This fact is just more proof to me of the priviledges and blessings I've had in my life.  In my life experiences, I have never had anything teach me that it is OK to rob someone of their choices.  Rather, my life truth is that all people should be respected, even those I don't agree with.  I have always been taught - in school, church, family, and community - that a person's freedom of choice is God-given and divine.  And the people around me have reinforced that truth by their behavior and choices.  I'd like to think that if someone decided to build the Berlin Wall today, the world would rise up to protest, myself among them. 

The concept of a Wall is simply incomprehensible to me, and I am grateful for that.  Obviously, there are - or at least were - people for whom it made sense.  Some people's lives had taught them that their own interests out-weighed those of others, and that it is okay to squelch spirits if necessary.  They had also learned somewhere that it is better to kill someone than let them disagree with you.  All the armed guards walking along the Wall were paid by someone who thought their presence was acceptable.  

I certainly can't judge the people who built the Wall and maintained it for all those years.  I simply don't know why they thought it was OK. 

And for that I am profoundly grateful.