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

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

Ummm wow, yeah I think your answer addresses things best. I don't see how the Cold War can be considered simple.

I talk to my dad and he was terrified over the nuclear war and his terror from what he says seems on par with my fear of war and such right now.

And certainly allies were not any simpler.
Nor was the US any more innocent. We had our hands in everything jsut like now. Nor was there less fighting. Random wars were erupting, just like now.

I don't get it.

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.


Here here! It drives me NUTS when people do not seem to realize how far we actually have come. As you say, we still of miles to go but we *do* seem to be moving forward!

I have a male cowrker who always wish things could go back to "simpler" times like the 1890's and then looks to me like I'll agree and I always say "no honestly, if you want me to choose between having the right to vote and the evils of the federal reserve . . . I'll take the right to vote, also the right to not be men's property, and I also enjoy that these days rape is actually thought of as a a real crime and that my doctor can not induce an orgasm in me as means of treating perceived medical illnesses like PMS *twitch*"


I think with the idealization of early eras that we get from Hollywood people forget how much worse it sucked for a lot of people even just 60 years ago let alone 100.


What I do wish though, is if we insist on killing each other, I wish that would could loose some of the weapons of mass destruction, (esp. biological and nuclear ones), and go back to killing each other with matchlock guns and knives. -_-

But that would have to go back further than even WWI