Before parting from writing on Berlin, I did want to bring up a potentially controversial opinion of mine… During the tour the guide spoke about some history back in the 1910’s and 20’s when Berlin was The PLACE to be in Europe. Rock Stars, politicians, celebrities and generally anyone who wanted to live to party flocked to Berlin.
Germany at one point in the 1910’s and 20’s was having financial troubles however , even though the party went on in Berlin! To help the country out of trouble Germany borrowed or was given money from the U.S. and then it really became good times in Berlin. But then the Stock market crashed in the U.S. beginning the depression and it also directly affected life in Berlin. Times got really tough and hard there as well. No one knew where to look or what to do. The life that people had become accustomed to was in grave danger.
Then along came a young man who made promises that he could fix the economy and get Berlin and Germany back to greatness once again. And with that promise in hand everyone followed. And Hitler came to power.
Now all of that is history. What I wonder is whether we have really learned anything from that to prevent it from happening again. Or are we still trapped by ourselves, in a way, of being so used to life being great that the minute it goes sideways we look to someone to fix things for us, then end up giving our power and lives away to the hands of those whose intentions are not right or good ones?
Some of my German friends have mentioned before that in their opinion Germans in general aren’t proud of their history involving one Adolf Hitler, and I feel the same in that I’m ashamed of parts of the history in the U.S… What I guess I’m getting at is that even though hindsight is 20/20 so much of the World’s negative history was preventable. And as we are currently living in the present, creating history for the years to come, I just hope that we can look to empower ourselves or others based on what is good or right and not on what is “good enough” and “right now”.
The wrongs in our histories are there to teach us lessons. I hope we learn from them. And I’m not speaking here just about the history in Germany. I’m using it as an example of things going on right now especially in the States with the “powers that be” allowing so many disgusting events to occur (GMO’s in food, scare tactics in the media, vaccinations becoming more mandatory, drones, the governments right to search and seize or even kill without just cause). How much have we really learned from history and how much of our freedom and the freedom of others are we willing to give away to feel “warm and safe” in our own little lives?
I know the above is very off topic from my regular posts on just traveling and good times, but since it was something I thought of a lot after visiting Berlin and taking the tour, I just had to share it- whether for better or worse.
Ramblintraveler 