The further east we went, the more intense the history got. I grew up knowing about the Berlin wall, knew it had existed, had seen it thorn down countless times on Reeling in the Years, but I don't know if I ever fully grasped the full story and legacy. I'm not sure I even knew what it was all about, can't remember what I learned about it in school. Berlin soon rid me of such blissful ignorance. Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist attraction now but was also almost the location that started WW3 (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I spent a long time there reading every bit of info they had, driving Amy insane I'd bet, and just feeling awe and disappointment at the treatment of people. To quote mean girls, cant we all just get along?! If this trip down Europe's memory lane is teaching me anything the answer seems to be a very clear and definate No.
What does stand out, away from those individuals in power, are the normal people, the on the ground, just getting on with our lives, people. The kindness, bravery, and strength these people had gave me goosebumps. Those are the people who matter in these battles of powerful men. The Churchill's, Hitler's, Stalins and Kennedys, the ones who divide countries with little thought for the people, those men can go about their political games and negotiating. Its the people who are fighting for friends and family, for strangers and their fellow country men, they are the ones who should be remembered.
There is so much history, too much cruelty, to take in. It shocks and sickens, making you question how it was allowed happen, why no one tried to stop it. And then Amy makes the worst and most valid point of all; its still going on and we're still allowing it to happen. One day we'll be walking through museums of the dead of this decade, this year, this month and this day. We will mourn them because it is grotesque and horrible that these things happen. We will question why we allowed it to happen. And yet as it happens, we allow it. The people still fight, the politicians still play and the rest of us continue to stand by, as we always have, until it comes knocking on our door.
I'm not looking forward to that day.
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