No matter how many walls we build around us, it always comes down... maybe today, maybe tomorrow.... but walls can never keep people under control. It's an illusion....
A friend from Germany has a piece of the Berlin Wall in his possession. I wonder how much would it cost to sell it on e-bay hundred years from now?
Had not the Germans suffered enough? The spoils of war...The people near famine... A Trizone occupation...The Soviets now cutting Berlin in two...
At that moment, had they wanted, the Allied Forces could have taken down the Wall immediately.
My brother was desperate. He said: What do they want? Didn't we kill enough German bodies? I did my share. The country is quartered. Now they're walling the heart. They want to keep pounding the spirit. The nation has been bled to death by Hitler. Let's not revive it. The future Schiller, Goethe, Hesse, Schopenhauer, Bach, Beethoven... should not be born.
He kept saying: Why are we rebuilding the land if we destroy the soul?
I was so young. He taught me well. I never forgot. There is innocent German blood on each piece of the Berlin Wall. People who were shot simply because they wanted to walk freely on the soil of their own country.
Nevin - I agree that our soul is not collective, and doesn't have a nationality. We're each unique and individual. But sometimes, specially after a great disturbance, our spirit needs a proper environment to blossom and to regain solidity and productivity. It also needs a collective support, and the time to go again to the sources which have carried one to the present.
Rightly or wrongly, my brother was afraid that Germany would be forever punished for a very short abysmal period of its history, and would not be allowed to dip into its rich past and culture to renew itself.
He died in 1981, before the Wall came down. He would have said all this so much better than I do.
Nevin, quite! Unfortunately, the longer it takes until such walls come down, the more people have to suffer.
On a lighter note: Your question let me smile. So you think being about 150 I could become a rich man when selling my stone?
Claudia, easily I could talk 24 hours nonstop without repeating anything. One of those complex matters.
In 1961 many people would still be convinced (by whom?!) of a "collective guilt". The more I do appreciate your brother's thoughts. On the other hand: All the Bachs, Beethovens, Goethes, Schillers, Kants, Schopenhauers obviously did not immunise their fellow countrymen against what Hannah Arend once would call the banality of the evil.
Ardent, indeed: when ideologists get into power, (positive) ideals get perverted.
Question? Why would voters in so-called democracies let pervert their ideals (in case they have them)?
Don't have the answer myself. As said, just a question.
No matter how many walls we build around us, it always comes down... maybe today, maybe tomorrow.... but walls can never keep people under control. It's an illusion....
ReplyDeleteA friend from Germany has a piece of the Berlin Wall in his possession. I wonder how much would it cost to sell it on e-bay hundred years from now?
Had not the Germans suffered enough? The spoils of war...The people near famine... A Trizone occupation...The Soviets now cutting Berlin in two...
ReplyDeleteAt that moment, had they wanted, the Allied Forces could have taken down the Wall immediately.
My brother was desperate. He said: What do they want? Didn't we kill enough German bodies? I did my share. The country is quartered. Now they're walling the heart. They want to keep pounding the spirit. The nation has been bled to death by Hitler. Let's not revive it. The future Schiller, Goethe, Hesse, Schopenhauer, Bach, Beethoven... should not be born.
He kept saying: Why are we rebuilding the land if we destroy the soul?
I was so young. He taught me well. I never forgot. There is innocent German blood on each piece of the Berlin Wall. People who were shot simply because they wanted to walk freely on the soil of their own country.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteClaudia: you are right.... Human soul can never be packaged or sold..... no matter if it's a German soul or another....... human is a human....
ReplyDeletethe sad truth is.... we are not there as an evaluation... as a "collective"....
Nevin - I agree that our soul is not collective, and doesn't have a nationality. We're each unique and individual. But sometimes, specially after a great disturbance, our spirit needs a proper environment to blossom and to regain solidity and productivity. It also needs a collective support, and the time to go again to the sources which have carried one to the present.
ReplyDeleteRightly or wrongly, my brother was afraid that Germany would be forever punished for a very short abysmal period of its history, and would not be allowed to dip into its rich past and culture to renew itself.
He died in 1981, before the Wall came down. He would have said all this so much better than I do.
Lying Politicians! Stuffing up the lives of innocent, hard working and freedom loving people.
ReplyDeleteHow the world suffers for policial ideology.:(
Nevin,
ReplyDeletequite!
Unfortunately, the longer it takes until such walls come down, the more people have to suffer.
On a lighter note: Your question let me smile. So you think being about 150 I could become a rich man when selling my stone?
Claudia,
easily I could talk 24 hours nonstop without repeating anything.
One of those complex matters.
In 1961 many people would still be convinced (by whom?!) of a "collective guilt".
The more I do appreciate your brother's thoughts.
On the other hand: All the Bachs, Beethovens, Goethes, Schillers, Kants, Schopenhauers obviously did not immunise their fellow countrymen against what Hannah Arend once would call the banality of the evil.
Ardent,
indeed: when ideologists get into power, (positive) ideals get perverted.
Question? Why would voters in so-called democracies let pervert their ideals (in case they have them)?
Don't have the answer myself. As said, just a question.