The Wall

This is the 1000th piece that I've posted on the blog since I began in mid-summer 2010.  As it's a sort of milestone, I thought I would mention it.

I own a piece of the Berlin Wall.  I never saw it in reality, but its presence was a living scar that most people of my generation knew, and hated.  It was erected in 1961  And one of the images that we all remember so well was that of the "vopo" Conrad Schumann jumping over the wire that was the predecessor of the concrete slabs.

The piece I now own was bought at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.  It is fitting that it was bought there, as Reagan above all people was  responsible for the fall of that dreadful badge of failure to communism, and its many hateful flaws.  It's surprising to me that there are still people out there who believe it is a desirable system.  I'm unlikely to ever feel that way, but if ever I do I can always pick up this little piece of dirt and remember what it stood for.