East and West

When I was 13 the year was 1989. I was in 9th grade and had a world history class that was mandatory for all 9th graders. In addition to learning about world history we had to memorize all the countries and their capitals. This was in the first semester of 9th grade, which meant August - December. November 1989 the world as I had grown up knowing it started to change. The Wall came down. You all should know which wall...but for those that don't, it was the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was the president of Russia (formerly known as the U.S.S.R.) and Reagan was the president of the US. The cold war came to an end. I went from having to memorize just the U.S.S.R. and its one capital, to having to memorize all new countries and their capitals that were all once a part of the U.S.S.R. I also had to memorize just one Germany and its capital. We were actually given all new study sheets because of the major world change.

I was old enough to understand that this was a massive historical event and was moved at the images I saw on the television of East and West Germany reuniting. Families and friends, in the same city, separated by mere meters, reuniting. I remember getting chills and watching the television fascinated with this. I was still too young to fully appreciate what this meant in the long term, but I understood anyway. I understood that a war torn country, divided, was finally reuniting. I understood that this meant people could be free. That they didn't have to live in fear any longer.

Now it's 24 years later. I'm 24 years older, and I still remember those images vividly. The sledgehammers, the crowds, the tears, the joy, the cheers. So powerful that time was. Now 24 years later here I am in Berlin and I get to see this for myself. It was so amazing to see the remnants of the wall firsthand. Today I visited the East Side Gallery, an art gallery on the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall on, you guessed it, the east side of the wall. I was shocked by how moved I was at some of the art, and how profound some of it is. I'm so grateful I got to see this place firsthand. I will now shut up and let you explore the images and take from them what you will.