I vaguely remember the 1984 presidential election. I think a voting booth was brought into our school to teach us about the process. The ‘88 election is a similarly weak memory. I confess not remembering Tiananmen Square, probably because a 12-year-old has better things to do in the summer than worry about the struggle of the Cold War.
But I vividly remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. My family visited New York City shortly after the wall’s destruction began, where I noticed street hustlers trying to sell pieces of the wall to the gullible. I would say it is my first strong political and ideological memory. Hearing that you could be shot for trying to leave East Germany, without doing anything wrong, was all I needed to know which side was evil. So seeing people with hammers and pick axes tearing down that wall made me feel like the good guys had won something.
This morning on Meet The Press, Tom Brokaw made an appearance to discuss his live reporting of these events back in 1989. They showed some great footage, and I particularly enjoyed this shot.
Protesters sitting on the Berlin Wall.
Assuming I understand Brokaw’s explanation and the geography of the location, this shot is of a few West Germans who climbed the wall, and rather than climbing down when police forces from the East used fire hoses to try to remove them, they put up with getting a bit wet and and just stayed put. The nonchalant pose struck by the man with the umbrella who thinks he’s Gene Kelly is simply classic. And the composition of the scene is great too, with the dark and dreary East contrasted with the colorful and happy West. Or as this article explains the contrast between the two societies, “it was as if one side of the wall were in black and white and the other side in Technicolor.” I would love to see an artist’s rendition of this in oil.
Singin’ in the Rain
I vaguely remember the 1984 presidential election. I think a voting booth was brought into our school to teach us about the process. The ‘88 election is a similarly weak memory. I confess not remembering Tiananmen Square, probably because a 12-year-old has better things to do in the summer than worry about the struggle of the Cold War.
But I vividly remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. My family visited New York City shortly after the wall’s destruction began, where I noticed street hustlers trying to sell pieces of the wall to the gullible. I would say it is my first strong political and ideological memory. Hearing that you could be shot for trying to leave East Germany, without doing anything wrong, was all I needed to know which side was evil. So seeing people with hammers and pick axes tearing down that wall made me feel like the good guys had won something.
This morning on Meet The Press, Tom Brokaw made an appearance to discuss his live reporting of these events back in 1989. They showed some great footage, and I particularly enjoyed this shot.
Protesters sitting on the Berlin Wall.
Assuming I understand Brokaw’s explanation and the geography of the location, this shot is of a few West Germans who climbed the wall, and rather than climbing down when police forces from the East used fire hoses to try to remove them, they put up with getting a bit wet and and just stayed put. The nonchalant pose struck by the man with the umbrella who thinks he’s Gene Kelly is simply classic. And the composition of the scene is great too, with the dark and dreary East contrasted with the colorful and happy West. Or as this article explains the contrast between the two societies, “it was as if one side of the wall were in black and white and the other side in Technicolor.” I would love to see an artist’s rendition of this in oil.
The fall of the Berlin Wall is something that should be commemorated and celebrated. It should be used as philosophical ammunition by others fighting tyranny in their own land. As a 7th grader, I understood the significance of the occasion. As the President of the United States, Barack Obama does not.
Here’s the full clip from Meet The Press.
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