As the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that momentous event in history that spurred the collapse of communism and the demise of the Cold War, I can't help but reminisce on the few days that I spent in Berlin during this summer. I've been staring at my photos all day...
Walking around the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, or Checkpoint Charlie, I remember trying to imagine what it must have felt like to live during those times. Picturing this massive wall just running all throughout the city...it was surreal and as hard as I tried, I just couldn't fathom it.
A couple of my friends and I took a trip down to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and we spent half the day just reading all these clippings and staring at these old artifacts and photos depicting the times and how people tried so hard to escape. I'll never forget this one plan where a West German man attached two or three suitcases together in which his East German girlfriend would hide as he tried to smuggle her across the border. I remember standing there thinking, "are you for real?!"...to think that someone would even have to think of something like that is just beyond me.
Then there was the time we were walking on the East German side of the Brandenburg Gate and there was this little area.. I forget what it's called now, but it was a little kind of memorial for the many people who tried to cross the borders but failed. A bunch of white crosses lined up one after another with the names of so many ill-fated young East Germans.
At the East Side Gallery, Sylwia (who you see below) and I walked the 1.3 km strip of the remaining wall staring at the artwork of the many artists who painted it after it had fallen. So many symbols of peace and hope and change. So much color and life and optimism...I couldn't help but think, "how many people died here?..at this very spot where a rosy painting of the world lies? Who was shot here? What guard stood in the way of his fellow man?". I remember being overtaken by this overwhelming feeling of disbelief that I was standing in front of the Iron Curtain...unable to fully know or even understand what went on during that time but still incredibly moved by it all...
I was born in October 1989, a month before the fall. I grew up in Canada for the majority of my life, the True North strong and free. I've never known communism or division or oppression. I've never had to go through the struggles and sufferings of that day. I've never known fear...never had so great a longing to escape something or somewhere. And so I look at these photos of the people who have lived through it all and I listen to their stories, I'm just filled with so much awe and I'm simply moved by all that they have endured...
Brandenburg Gate
Berlin Wall's East Side Gallery
good intentions are not enough
So unless you've been living under a rock or have been busy helping NASA bomb the moon today, you should know that the Obamster has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Isn't it amazing how the world seems to just be going down that downward spiral faster and faster these days? Personally, I'm loving all the commentary I'm hearing online, offline, on screen, on everywhere...nothing better than controversy that's powerful enough to rile up the masses!
But seriously now, what's going on here? Last time I checked, to win the Peace Prize, a person had to a) do the best work to encourage fraternity between nations b) abolish or reduce standing armies and c) hold and promote peace congresses. And so, Obama won the Peace Prize because? Because he's the commander-in-chief of three wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and two other lower-scale ones in Africa and the Philippines? Because he's given plenty of lofty speeches full of equally lofty promises? Because he's apologized for America around the world? Because it is his fervent hope that peace will be achieved one day? Oh right! How could I have overlooked that?
But now there's talk that he was awarded the prize not because of his actual accomplishments or achievements but rather to spur on and motivate his determination for peace. So now we're awarding prizes to individuals who might do something in the future? Roiiight then...like my title says, good intentions are not enough. If it were, I could write a whole list of people who would be eligible for the prize (myself included). Everyone hopes for peace, everyone has good intentions, but the mere intention does not merit an award. All words and no action is undeserving of an award of such calibre (well, I guess that calibre is questionable now...)
And if this is a means by which to encourage him and motivate him, does the Nobel Committee actually think that it's helping his cause? If anything, it's hurt him...there's backlash everywhere. And a lot of that backlash is and will be toward him, not to the people who awarded it to him. If anything, it merely highlights and reminds everyone just how little he's done during his time as president.
But hey, I gotta give props where props are due! Obama has once again shown the world that you can do anything if you have the 'audacity of hope'! Heck, he didn't even hope to win the prize, and he still got it!...so for all us aspiring Nobel Peace Prize winners, can we do it? Yes We Can!
Ondoy
I've been watching videos and newscasts of the storm that's been raging back home in the Philippines and it is absolute insanity. Can't believe some of the things that I'm seeing and to think that I have family back home right in the thick of it. Grew up in the comforts of Canada so I have absolutely no idea what this feels like. So surreal...
Just praying that it all comes to an end soon and that loved ones back home are safe.
For all of you abroad who are looking to help, click here
Eccentricites of a Blond Hair Girl – Short Stories Should be Exactly That…Short.
Veteran director Manoel de Oliveira marked his 100th birthday with the adaptation of José Maria de Eça de Queiroz’s short story. It is a fascinating tale set in 18th century Portugal about a young accountant named Macário who, while peering through his office window above his uncle’s cashmere store, instantly falls in love with Luisa who lives in the building next door. He rushes to pursue her only to have his uncle prohibit the relationship and making his employment conditional upon this command. But of course, love must have its way and Macário travels to Cape Verde where he could raise funds to ask for Luisa’s hand. It is unquestionably a romantic premise although with an interesting twist that proves Macário’s efforts to have been in vain.
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