A Trip To The Berlin Wall Changed My Perspective – Bruce Rants

We see walls all around us everyday. These walls separate offices, buildings, classrooms, and private property from the street. For most walls the passage around or through is quite simple. There is a door, a gate, a passage way that leads to the other side and in most cases crossing through is not that big of deal. I never really thought much about walls until I had the opportunity to visit Berlin Germany in 2009. That visit changed a lot of things about the way I look at the world.

As walls go the one in Berlin was a biggie. Next to the Great Wall in China I would imagine most people of my generation knew about the Berlin Wall. What most of us didn't know is what it actually stood for, or against. Let me attempt to explain.

As my family and I got off the train in Berlin and walked up the stairs to the top street level it became apparent. Where we were walking used to be East Germany. That would be the communist controlled part of Berlin. I remember thinking that if this had been before November 9, 1989, we could have been shot on sight with no questions asked.  Fortunately this was twenty years later and Berlin has changed quite a bit.

One of the first things you notice walking in Berlin is the distinct architecture. One side is flamboyant and quite western looking with flashy buildings and modern skyscrapers. The other side looks very bland. Basic square and rectangular shaped buildings with modest windows and doorways.

Berliners don't shy away from their past. Through the streets of the city there is a line of demarcation where the wall once stood. The wall itself is gone in all but a very few spots around the city but the line is a reminder of what used to separate families as well as political ideology.

Standing next to a portion of the wall as it stood since 1962 was quite the spiritual experience for me. This wall went up the same year I was born. Every citizen of that city that was my age or younger had only known life with a wall dividing their town.  Many innocent people died because of that wall. The political reasons simply don't justify the actions if you ask me.

This past weekend the citizens of Germany and Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall. German citizens still recount that day with joyful glee. I can only imagine how that must have felt to have their entire country become whole again.

Here in the United States we seem to be just as divided. Politically, economically, racially, and in other ways. We have our own walls that aren't made of brick and stone. These walls are made of misinformation, prejudice, and hate.  We don't need these walls either. Maybe one day our walls will come tumbling down like the wall that divided Germany. Maybe one day we too will be free to celebrate the true freedoms we are guaranteed as citizens of this country.