On Nov. 9, 1989, something very historic happened in our world: The Berlin Wall fell, thus symbolically ending an era of division between East and West Germany and literally ending the Cold War. Today, Germany is a unified nation that has seemed to culturally and politically transcend its history of oppression. Former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev met with current German chancellor Angela Merkel in order to commemorate this anniversary. Of course, Gorbachev became instrumental in the wall's fall as a result of then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan's now-famous gaffe-- "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!" President Barack Obama has drawn criticism from the right (surprise!) for sitting out the occasion. Once again, this is a bunch of negative spin. Besides, the current U.S. commander-in-chief did acknowledge the upcoming anniversary in a speech he delivered in Copenhagen, Denmark, a short time ago.
I remember watching breaking news coverage of this huge story on TV as a nine-year-old child in Texas. I think I've always been subconsciously political. At the time, my uncle was serving in the U.S. Army and was actually stationed in Germany, so this was a really big deal in my family. Needless to say, it'll be interesting to look back 20 years from now and reflect on everything that's going on now.
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