For the past week, Germans have been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the memorable Nov. 9 evening when the gates of the Berlin Wall were opened and people long separated by concrete and checkpoints were able to travel freely between East Berlin, a part of the Soviet bloc, and West Berlin, an ally of the West.After years of standing as a firm dividing line, most of the wall was quickly torn down. I remember seeing a part of it standing on display at the North Carolina State Fair. Family and friends were reunited after years apart, commercial opportunities blossomed, and the scent of freedom filled the air.
When I remember the excitement of those heady days, I can't help but think of an even longer, even higher wall that the State of Israel continues to construct, confiscating Palestinian land to build a much longer barrier, twice the height of the Berlin Wall, between Israel and the West Bank. The primary excuse for the wall is security; the ultimate effect is the isolation and oppression of many Palestinian people who can no longer travel to work in Israel or even farm their own land.There's a Bible story about how the walls around Jericho came tumbling down for the Israelites. Today, longer walls and fierce fences are going back up.
Physical walls that imprison or isolate also remind me of the ideological walls that divide people of different religions and different political persuasions, as well as the pain-induced emotional walls that keep so many families and former friends apart.
Walls are fed by fear and mistrust, but they fade before open and willing hearts.
We may long for the day when all walls may come down, but that is not enough. Jesus did not say "blessed are the peace-longers," but "blessed are the peace-makers."
We have work to do.
[Top photo from http://www.destination360.com/europe/germany/berlin-wall-museum. Bottom photo is mine, taken from inside the wall that surrounds much of Bethlehem.]
3 comments:
Thanks for not giving Ronald Reagan credit for ending Communism and bringing down the Berlin Wall.
I agree with Georgia Mountain Man..
Ronald Regan had nothing to do with the fall of communism and the Berlin Wall, he was just there making a speech. Reagan was good for only one thing: improving the patriotism of the silent majority. Most Americans were already patriotic, he just hinted that it was "cool".
For all of the credit Ronnie gets from the right, he did very little, especially things that would be approved by the far-right. Reagan was not as conservative as they wish he was.
I, myself, hold allegiance to only one country and it is not of this earth.
While historical revisionism might make you feel good, the fact is that Ronald Reagan had everything to do with bringing down the Berlin Wall. Whether you agree with his strategy/tactics or not, his "peace through strength" approach bankrupted the USSR, who finally gave up after propping up the rest of the Warsaw Pact for decades. In the end, it wasn't so much an ideological victory as an economic one. But to suggest Reagan had nothing to do with its eventual demise is pure fantasy.
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