Hello again.
I'm not quite ready to close this blog, if only because I keep finding interesting things to learn about Germany. There are certainly lots of movies I haven't seen yet (e.g., Wings of Desire), and many, many excellent books in translation remain to be read. I wish I could review them all soon - but there are so many other things to do!
Just this week, I found this article about our very own spaceman, Chris Hadfield, and his photo of Berlin from the space station! Wow, Germany and outer space have ended up in this blog together! And Hadfield's a fellow Canadian as well!
The photo shows the two different kinds of street lights, one yellow, the other white, that still outline the former east and west areas of the capital. Even after unification, there are still signs of the wall's vestigial presence. This reflects a social phenomenon: the wall, as they say, remains in the mind - "Mauer im Kopf" (actually the head - same thing).
I'm sure that stubborn reminders remain in the mind in many other cases, in Europe, which is full of history that won't go away, and in lots of other countries, groups, and cultures. Things may change as more progressive thinking develops, but the old boundaries and divisions linger in both the individual and the collective consciousness. This can keep causing harm, apparently out of sight, like a drift net that disappears off a boat but continues to ensnare thousands of unlucky animals for years.
Food for thought as we take great strides forward as a species - or seem to.... Some things really never change. It's better we stay vigilant.
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