In the 70s and 80s I was so impressed with some of the long conversations that I had with men who had escaped the Eastern block, some were more educated and thoughtful than others, but they all were a fountain of knowledge of their own little teeny corner of life in a society where all of your information is controlled.
They had such a passion about what the authorities did not want them to think and to know, that I was always invigorated and rejuvenated in my patriotism after listening to their intensity and their heart felt relief that they had truly escaped to where their hearts and minds were free.
It is hard to take things for granted when you meet people that have seen the other side and know what is at stake in man’s struggle.
Wonderful piece of film. Logic and common sense.
Like you, I had the good fortune to meet and work with some interesting people. From 1978-1981, I worked a a small but growing electronics assembly firm. They were hiring like mad at the time..and the place had a high number of foreign born workers. It was amazing, we had several from India (very smart and very calm), quite a lot of Vietnamese, many of them ‘boat people’ (very hard workers, with their own stories to tell) and several Germans. Even the President of the company was a “white” Russian. But by far, the person that impressed me the most was a man from Romania. Lots of my co-workers thought he was weird, thick accent, etc. But I spent a lot of time talking with him..and it was fascinating.
I was only 22 at the time...and had a pretty good idea what Communism was..but that education was expanded by an order of magnitude by talking to him. He had an engineering degree..but couldn’t use it here..and had to start over. Could not have contact with his family for fear about what could happen to them...the story of his escape while a merchant marine and his coming here to America.
Some time later, we read a story about 5 more men who recently escaped from Romania and had landed in Baltimore. Within 2 days, he and his girlfriend (American born Romainian) went to meet them and they relocated to Philadelphia. I was invited to meet them at a picnic at Valley Forge Park.
I will never forget that day. As I drove up to the Memorial Arch, my co-worker standing there with these newly free men, one of them on his hands and knees, kissing the stones that line the driveway leading to the Arch. That is when it all hit home; just how lucky we are and why we had to defeat Communism and all of its incarnations. My eyes still fill up, with both empathy for those wanting to be free..and the pride I have in my country.
For some of us, we have never lost that. For others, particularly the young and gullible, they have yet to be taught it or experience it for themselves.
Sorry to be so longwinded but your experience..and the video you posted, brough back a lot of memories. Thank you!!