Berlin has been very good. Arriving after a very long day of driving, I was so thankful to be greeted by a smiling friend and his welcoming home. We are staying with Andreas, who I met in 2003 in Flagstaff, Arizona at a hostel. I was on my way towards San Luis again, heading back from Missouri, and I had room in my car. As it happened, he was not going to see Las Vegas on his trip around America, and I thought that a tragedy, so we piled into the Firebird and drove west. After being aghast at Las Vegas and having a blast driving across the countryside, we went to Pismo Beach, where Andreas got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. He had such an ability for appreciating small things, and also seemed to see the magic in simple experiences, that I figured we’d stay in touch after we parted ways, which we have. Probably because he is better at it than I am, but I’m thankful for that too.
So, when I planned this trip to Europe, I knew Berlin was a must, and I was stoked when he took time off work to host my mom and me. While Berlin is full of days and days of touristic experiences, mostly we have just walked around. And eaten things. It is also full of fantastic things to eat, from all over the world, and we have tried many things which I’ve never seen before. Andreas is also a great cook, and does well combining simple ingredients which make delicious meals. The weather might be gray, but the lettuce, cucumbers and more are all in season, and delicious.
Berlin is fascinating to me because in my lifetime it was divided, and part was under the rule of the Communist Party from USSR, and part was considered an Allied sector, which had French, American, and British areas. I remember when the wall came down, I watched it on television. I remember the look on the faces of the people, who were ecstatic. And now I wonder daily since we’ve been in Germany, how did that happen? How did people follow someone as insane as Hitler and believe him, because many did? Then, after the war, in the 1960’s which was not that long ago, how did it come to pass that someone happened to be working, or visiting friends, or buying bread one day in East Berlin and went to return to their home in West Berlin to learn that a wall had been built and one couldn’t pass anymore. How did building a wall and shooting people who tried to pass seem like a remotely good idea to anyone ever? These thoughts puzzle me.
As we walk the streets in Berlin, and the paths in the parks, and we see hundreds of other Berliners enjoying themselves, I wonder. There is a sense here that no one is paying attention anymore. For years and years and years, everything was under the microscope, at least in the East. Your every move was considered, and you couldn’t leave. Special conditions might allow for a holiday elsewhere, but it was difficult and bounded by restriction. If one climbed the wall, or tried to escape, they risked their life. Now the death zone is a giant park, and pieces of the wall still stand and are used by graffiti artists to ply their skills. There are bands playing, fires burning on the lawn, and everyone but Andreas and I have beers.
I couldn’t count the number of things which were against the law in America that were going on in the park. From selling beer without a license, to having the dogs off leash, to burning a fire on the lawn, or drinking in public, or having a bike without a headlight, everyone around me was doing something that was against the rules in the US (which, last time I checked, had some catchy, freedom honoring slogan which went “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.”). It was inspiring to be surrounded by all of these activities, and all of these happy people who were just hanging out. I felt very introspective. Twenty years before, the wall had been up, and people were being shot at, terrorized in their own country; actually in the same patch of grass where I now sat, enjoying a nice breeze and two German dudes playing covers of songs by American bands.
It made me consider terrorism, and the way in which that term has been bandied about over the last few years. And how, often, it is only applied to people who exist as outsiders of the United States. Yet, in actuality, terrorists can be of somewhere, within the boundaries of a place, trusted and at home there. Hitler, and secondly the Communist Regime, were both insiders of their own countries and were terrorists. They justified their horrific actions with belief systems that formed the basis for murders and the wholesale undermining of trust in fellow man of their countrymen and women. It was quite motivating to know that if you didn’t do your job, that your family was at risk of being harmed. The way in which fear was employed as an incentive is creepy to me, as it doesn’t occur as an option personally.
The thought of socialism and capitalism being unable to share a physical boarder which is open and uncontrolled is interesting to me as well. When I think of socialism, I do not think of barbed wire and fences needed to hold in the people, but rather of accessible health care, education, and equal provisions. I do not imagine giant swaths of land where homes, churches, and all plant life were eradicated to make it easier to see escapees fleeing. Those things remind me of prisons, where you wind up if you harm others, not where you wind up if you happened to live on the wrong side of the continent.
Berlin inspires much thinking in me. It has been great to have a willing guide and time to explore Berlin as it is today. Seeing all of the people moving about this city which is still visibly in transition towards something new. Feeling as if Berlin was dipping its toes over the line of breaking into anarchy or lawlessness or disorder at every minute. Knowing that no one was looking. That is amazing.