First of all, has it really been 25 years? I have two
daughters that were both born in Germany after that historic day and they only
know about what life was like before the Wall Fell, by stories that they hear
or discussions that they have in school. How wonderful it is that there are
generations of people that don’t know what it was like to live in the Cold War!
I personally watched the events unfold from America, so I didn’t experience
what life in a divided Germany was like firsthand and ever since I moved over to the
Frankfurt, Germany area, I’ve had a sense of wonder when I visited Prague,
Dresden, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow and any other area that I
visit that was under the “Iron Curtain”. I was studying at the university when
all those revolutions happened and I had one political science and one
economics class that focused on these events and it truly was an amazing time,
so full of hope for the future.
I’ve always been fascinated by history and dates and
one thing that hasn’t been lost on me is that World War 1 started in 1914 and
we also will have the 25th Anniversary of the “Fall of the Berlin
Wall” in the same year. Some people would point out that Word War II was
largely a result of the way that Word War I ended. I’ve been listening to a fascinating
account of World War I by Dan Carlin (someone
who really makes history fun) on his Hardcore History
Podcast, in a series that he has been doing called “Blueprint for
Armageddon”. There are currently 4 episodes in this series and I’m eagerly
awaiting the next episode. I would also propose that way that Word War II ended
set the stage for the Cold War and we still haven’t found our way in the Post
Cold War Era. Maybe some of our leaders were looking for another meaningful
long-term conflict to latch on to, but it is pretty obvious that we weren’t
ready for the end of the Cold War and are still trying to find our way.
In the IT world, when we’re following best practices, after we make a big change (i.e. to our infrastructure or to software) we should take some time to review what happened, did the change go the way that it should have, are there any steps that need to be taken to correct effects from the change? When changes are planned, there should be a “change freeze” to make sure that the change being implemented can be rolled back and that a root cause analysis can be done on any resulting problems after the change. I would argue that we need to do this as a society and think about where we really want to go before we get sucked into the next Great War. After the Cold War ended, we should have done such an assessment before we got sucked into a “War on Terror”. Many of the international conflicts that we have today are at least in part due to the way that the maps were drawn after World War I and World War II and governments that were supported because they were deemed strategically necessary because of the Cold War. President Eisenhower warned us of the “Military Industrial Complex” in his farewell address…
“Until
the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry.
American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as
well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national
defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of
vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are
directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military
security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This
conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is
new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political,
even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the
Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet
we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and
livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In
the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and
will persist.
We
must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and
knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial
and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that
security and liberty may prosper together.” (Text of President Eisenhower’s speech from Coursera)
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that a lot of
other things could have been done with the money spent on the Arms Race and the
money spent on arming this or that party. Add to this that we’re now developing
a “Security Industrial Complex”, can there ever be enough security when the
enemy is the bogeyman? How do you ever win a “War on Terror”, when is the “Mission
Accomplished”, truly? Where is the
treaty signed that ends the War on Terror”? Now, imagine that the money and
energy pumped into endless wars were directed at problems that need solving
instead. Can you imagine what amazing things we could do with the technology
and the problems we could solve?
The human element is often overlooked when talking
about the conflicts and fighting that we’ve had. Imagine the families and
friends torn apart in the divided Berlin and Germany. Not knowing when they’d
see each other again (or even if there would even be a “when”). Imagine the
hopelessness of it all. What kind of future did the kids have to look forward
to? And yet, the human spirit somehow
prevailed, family, friends, and countrymen were reunited and what was
unimaginable not that long ago came to be, a reunited Germany! The people have
been able to celebrate all these things for nearly 25 years!
Before we go building more walls, it’s time to tear
some more down, to reach out and build some more bridges and connect more
people. My grandfather, in his eternal wisdom used to say how people everywhere
were good and could get along, it was just our politicians that couldn’t get
along. To Germany and the world, I wish you a happy “Tag der deutsche Einheit“
and I hope that we can unite more people that are torn apart and learn some
lessons from the Cold War. Darryl Heron
You might be interested in the 20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall and German Reunification
Note: The picture above "Thefalloftheberlinwall1989" comes from Wikipedia.
