Writer's Block: Day of German Unity

[author_by_night]

[Error: unknown template qotd]Yes, waking up one day to find out you can't see your sister because a government-made wall has been built in the middle of the city is simple. Fearing that you'll be arrested under suspicion of communism is simple. Thinking the world will blow up is simple.

I'm twenty three, so I can't feel any nostalgia anyway, but from what I know, nothing was simple.

I mean, I guess there were ways in which the time period itself was more simple. A can of coke could be bought for five cents, and you didn't get sued for asking a loud customer to leave your store.

You know what, though? If it means a black man can run for president, if it means my friend's dream of being a doctor won't be taken away because of her gender, if it means people in Germany won't be shot for wanting to see loved ones on the other side of the wall, well... I'll take paying extra for a can of coke.

Yes, we have a long way to come. The world is still a mess. But those times were in no way, shape or form more "simple."

Honestly... what happened to Writer's Block questions making sense? Though at least the other ones were generally inoffensive.

Comments

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

What the question is trying to get at is the simplicity of a world where answers were black and white: communist, or capitialist. The Soviet Union was the enemy, you knew where they were, mostly what they were up to, and if it came to conflict, wars were fought by armies in uniform, and easliy identified.

Now, we don't really KNOW who our enemies are, when they fight, they do it in civillian clothes, and all things are shades of grey. And we don't really know who we're fighing, why they're fighing at all, or how to fix it.

I agree that socially, we've come a long way. And I'm pleased that we freed eastern Europe from the tyranny of communism, but there is a small part of me that longs for the simplicity of international relations that we had in the Cold War.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Okay, maybe I can understand if they mean international relations... but even then, I still have to disagree. Nobody knew who enemies might be back home - there were communism witch hunts.

And if that is what they meant, I dunno, they could've worded it better. I'm still not clear if that is definitely what the question meant.