20 Years
20 Years ago the Berlin Wall came down. Matt Welch at Reason Magazine called it "the most liberating moment in history". For the great number of us that grew up and did Military Service during the Cold War, when we reflect, it's hard to argue with him. Especially anyone old enough to remember the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis or spend their childhood jumping under school desks. The Russians were a mysterious people that bred children to compete in the Olympics and ate the ones they culled. To them we Americans were evil Capitalists that ate our children too. That and we both had some big nasty bombs...
I recently made friends with an Israeli that made a point of truth, we the West won the Cold War not because we were so much better, but the Warsaw Pact was so much worse. He's right. Nothing, nor nobody, can defeat you as much as yourself. The Soviets were in no position to compete. They changed their ways. We didn't do it for them.
The Cold War was WWIII, and it ended with less fireworks than anticipated. I personally didn't think we'd ever go toe to toe with Eastern Block. I'm thankful that we didn't. Europe is not lined up against each other. We can be friends now, and we should.
ADDED NOTE: also see this from The Christian Science Montior
I remember watching Gorbachev's speech on TV. I had just been off active duty a few months. Jello Boy was there, just out of High School a few months. He couldn't understand why I was paying so much attention to what was happening. The World had changed and yet, it didn't.
Last Week I ate at the Steakhouse. My Waitress was a very sweet and lovely girl from Moldova that was rather happy to be in the United States. 21 years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed that possible.
"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."
James Gordon, M.D
The Appalachianist
I recently made friends with an Israeli that made a point of truth, we the West won the Cold War not because we were so much better, but the Warsaw Pact was so much worse. He's right. Nothing, nor nobody, can defeat you as much as yourself. The Soviets were in no position to compete. They changed their ways. We didn't do it for them.
The Cold War was WWIII, and it ended with less fireworks than anticipated. I personally didn't think we'd ever go toe to toe with Eastern Block. I'm thankful that we didn't. Europe is not lined up against each other. We can be friends now, and we should.
ADDED NOTE: also see this from The Christian Science Montior
I remember watching Gorbachev's speech on TV. I had just been off active duty a few months. Jello Boy was there, just out of High School a few months. He couldn't understand why I was paying so much attention to what was happening. The World had changed and yet, it didn't.
Last Week I ate at the Steakhouse. My Waitress was a very sweet and lovely girl from Moldova that was rather happy to be in the United States. 21 years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed that possible.
"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."
James Gordon, M.D
The Appalachianist
posted by Hill Billy Rave | Sunday, November 08, 2009
6 Comments:
Has it only been 20 years--it seems both so longer ago and just yesterday.
Sage, maybe that's the reason we have a hard time mentioning it here in the West. Time has gotten away from us.
Sometimes I just hold my breath . . . sometimes I read . . . thinking how I would tweak your posting mostly agreeing with you . . . and then there is the music . . . that ilustrates the best of what you are trying to say . . . sometimes I just sit in awe . . . I had an American soldier in one of my classes who had just returned from Moldava . . . who could find that small country on a map of Europe . . . still suffering from the horrible war . . . World War II . . . and its aftermath as an old war and a cold war begins to merge with a new one . . . the song was special . . . thanks . . . Bill
It's truly monumental, Bill. No one would have thought that something like that would happen 10 or 20 years prior to that. LOL, maybe Ronald Reagen...it only goes how surprising things can happen in our world.
As I think about it, there should be allot more written about it in history books. They are out there.
'Missing from the history books.' Haw
Try this from North of the 49th : it illustrates the true nature of things in the US, UK, Australia, etc.
http://creekside1.blogspot.com/2009/11/inside-committee-on-afghanistan.html
I see glimpses of something I can recognise in the post, Opit. And, thanks, sometimes we Americans tend to see ourselves involved in these things alone. We're not the only ones struggling with issues. We need to be reminded of that.
Interesting...And kind of goofy too.
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