20 years ago today the Berlin Wall came down and in a short few days the lives of millions were changed forever. When they announced on the radio yesterday that we would be hearing lots in the news about this huge event today... well my first reaction was, "Gee, is it really 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down?" I remember that day very well and although it didn't affect me directly, I knew that somehow the world had changed. I was happy for the people of the Eastern Bloc who were beginning to experience all the things and freedoms that the western world took for granted.
Later this week, Hubby and Daughter #1 will take part in the aanual Remembrance Day services held at the Cenotaph in our community. Daughter #2 and I will stand in the crowd and we will hang our heads in remembrance of the fallen victims of war. The JCRs (Junior Canadian Rangers) are a big part of our lives,and will be there too. As Chair person (me) and one of the leaders (Hubby) we try our best to get the JCRs (including Daughter #1) involved in what that day is all about. It is about fallen soldiers, it is about the freedom that we have to read, write, practice our chosen religion without fear of persecution, to think and feel and simply be without political reprisals.
I was born in 1965, the decade of the flower child, and while I still remember when blacks were persecuted because of the colour of their skin, and females were looked upon as evil when they had children without a husband, I really have not experienced atrocities against me because of who I am. I was born without a thumb... I was born with a curved spine... I was born with crooked elbows and had I lived in Germany in the 1940s I would have been put to death, along with Jews and Gypsies and homosexuals because I fit the description of a disabled person. I'm a relatively educated person, I'm also a relatively creative person and I would have died as an unwanted because I look different. The strange thing is that you can hardly notice any of my physical problems... you have to look hard to see them. I might have been born in a decade of freedom, but I never forget that I am less than perfect.... and therefore not good enough for Hitler's world of the Arian race.
I have two beautiful children and a husband who loves me and friends who think of me as someone worthy of their friendship. I live in a beautiful part of the world where I can go to church on Sunday, and get an education without hiding my face, I can work if I want to and read and watch whatever I want. Health care is offered to me so that if I get sick I can see a doctor without having to starve for the rest of my life while my paycheck is eaten by debts to insurance companies and hospitals. And all of this, my friends, is something to be thankful for.
So while the dominoes in Berlin come tumbling down tomorrow, in a symbolic reenactment of the Berlin Wall falling, I will think about all the things in my life that make me who I am... that give me peace of mind and soul. And on Remembrance Day I will think about all the good men that did not get the chance to experience the world that I live in and sometimes take for granted. It is because of them that I have what I have. And while I Remember all those who died in WWI and WWII, I will think about the people in this world, at this time, who will never know the joy of waking to a fear free sunrise.... who walk a country lane knowing that rape is a real possibility, who carry a gun long before they can think the thoughts of men, who get their education in hiding, who cannot show the symbols of their faith, who cannot make ends meat, who are persecuted because of their ethnicity, who hide their appearance from those who would see them as something they are not. And then I will think about all the men and women of the Armed Forces, of aid agencies, and those who are teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, etc., who are trying to make a better world for those people who deserve so much more and have so much less.
And I will remember that privilege should not be taken for granted.
"For upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all." Alexander the Great
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