Tumbling Down"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!" President Ronald Reagan West Berlin June 12, 1987 When President Reagan demanded that the Soviet Union dismantle the greatest symbol of its tyranny, the Berlin Wall, many viewed it as mere rhetorical bluster. Few if any could possibly envision the Wall coming down just two years later. Indeed, 20 years ago today the Cold War suddenly and unexpectedly entered its death spiral. The epic struggle between two superpowers' competing political and economic ideologies was concluded not with a nuclear bang, but with sledgehammers and pick-axes wielded by joyous free people chipping away at a stone partition. Unlike most Walls, which are erected to impede intruders, the Berlin Wall was designed to keep people in. Construction on it began in August 1961 after Soviet Bloc officials decided to close the border between East and West Berlin. Communist-controlled East Germany was simply losing too many of its people to the West. They were dissatisfied with the lack of freedom and dearth of opportunities communism offered and voted their displeasure the only way possible in such an oppressive state: with their feet. When the Wall went up, East Berlin became a prison. That more than any philosophical argument, political speech or analytical data exposed communism for what it was. If that ideology truly represented a better future for mankind, why did it have so many dissidents, and why did it have to take such extreme measures to prevent them from leaving? Even wielding such a ruthless iron fist, though, couldn't cover up the inherent weaknesses in the communist system.
In retrospect, it was like a corrosive element eating away at communism's superstructure. Like a bridge, it appeared from a distance to be sturdy. Indeed, the CIA for years infamously overestimated the Soviet Bloc's strength, right up until it collapsed. It failed to detect the erosion below the surface, the micro-fissures that were starting to expand toward a tipping point. Thus, most Americans just assumed that the Cold War forever would be a part of their lives, and that the West would have to learn to live with global communism. That's why the fall of the Wall was so stunning. Virtually overnight (albeit following weeks of peaceful protests in East Germany), it marked the end of history. And just as its erection was a powerful symbol of oppression, its dismantling spoke volumes about the nature of freedom. The exuberance with which crowds swung their hammers and cheered every chuck of concrete that fell, the way strangers from both sides enthusiastically greeted each other through the breaches — those images embody the ultimate futility of trying to corral and command the human spirit. REPRINTED FROM THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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