Apparently tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I’m too young to remember much of the details, but I do remember the re-enactment we did at school. I was in either Kindergarten or 1st grade. We built a wall out of chairs, and I remember the teachers describing how the West Germans could enter and leave East Germany, but East Germans weren’t allowed to leave their own country, let alone enter another. It seemed totally unfair, and the feeling of how good it must have felt to taste at least some form of freedom after such ridiculous restrictions has stuck with me, and probably played a large part in shaping my political beliefs.
There are only a few times in life when you know you’re living through history as an event is happening, and that was the first I can remember.
