October 30, 2009
Where Were You When the Wall Fell? Comments Off
On 11/09/1989 I was 14, watching history happen on TV.? The Berlin wall was suddenly no more, and I remember thinking that the whole world was wide open. If the cold war (having gone on longer than I had then been alive) could possibly end, anything could happen. A few months later, Jesus Jones would come out with Right Here Right Now (This was before they turned it into a damn marketing jingle.). It’s one of the last times I can remember being truly hopeful about the state of the world, in the way that only an adolescent can be.
The 90′s did one hella number on my faith in the world. The wars in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf were waiting in the wings, though I didn’t know it at the time. My heart broke early that decade,and I’ve never again trusted that all will be right just because one bad leader is swept away. There are far too many others, waiting their turn.
20 years go by, and (as happens to every generation) my childhood has become history. I look back on that hopeful kid, and smile to myself.? I still (on my better days) have a measure of idealism, but the fresh-faced hope of youth melts irrevocably into the past. If we’re lucky, we catch a passing glimpse in memories.