A great statesman and actor has left the stage. It´s also noticed in the city which owes him much.
A welcome change from the horrid, ungracious piece in Der Spiegel over the weekend. And to think, since 1989 I have treasured my copy of the Spiegel special issue on German reunification. I remember staying up late, watching CNN, seeing the Wall come down live. I could sense history being made. All because of the conditions created by President Reagan. Germany has never had a better friend than the United States embodied in President Reagan.
As one who served in Berlin and looked at the gray ruin of the East Zone, I really got misty reading this heartfelt tribute.
Of all the lofty commentary, this has had the most impact on me. Plain truth from a regular citizen. Of yet another country upon which the U.S. has made a POSITIVE impact.
Isn't it amazing how the America-haters ignore this type of thing, and yet still posture as intelligent people?
Then I remember watching on TV two years later as the wall's guards stood by allowing people to charge the wall, venting years of anger and frustration, taking hostile blows at the wall with pick axes and sledgehammers.
Today, a small piece of that wall sits on my desk.
The end of the Berlin wall will always be Reagan's greatest accomplishment in my eyes.