Re: 25 years ago...

SnowPink · ‎09-20-2014

I'm bowing out of this thread since the same ole people (and one new one!) is trying to make it about what it's not.

Toodles.

clemintine · ‎03-11-2010

I remember it. I was certainly much older than 9, however!

minkbunny · ‎03-09-2010

Have a great day, Mellie !

Surfnturf · ‎03-09-2010

Oh come on, Mellie. This was the biggest news on the planet when it happend. At 9 years old, you should have been in the 4th grade. It would have been mentioned in class

RainCityGirl · ‎12-16-2012

On 11/9/2014 minkbunny said:
And, kitty, if I might say so - an exceptional adult ! ${#emotions_dlg.thumbup}$

mominohio,

We are just having fun with Mellie. She has an ongoing theme of inserting historic events into the board then saying she is only vaguely aware of them as she is a mere child.

One would think that a 9 year old would have had a history teacher who would have been thrilled to discuss this monumental event with the class the very next day. Discuss in a way that the student could recall every word 25 years later.

One would think.

It's just another excuse to throw her "age" into a thread which happens all the time. For some reason she's obsessed with getting that point across. Who cares how old a poster is? What is the purpose of that revelation? Seriously. Who else on this board constantly refers to her age repeatedly? And now she's the victim??? Please.

Marienkaefer2 · ‎03-09-2010

I remember it very well. I spent a lot of time in Berlin and was there about a year before the wall opened. I remember traveling back and forth between East and West Berlin on the subway. The last stop was Friedrichstrasse and you got off to go through the border. I also went through Checkpoint Charlie a few times My boyfriend at that time was a West Berliner, and it was very difficult for them to get a visa to go to the east. But as an American I could just go. There were some things that were cheaper there if you paid in US $. One thing he wanted me to get him were Benson and Hedges cigarettes. Seems funny now! Also, I would buy books there, and other duty free type items. Like I said, If you had American dollars, they wanted you to shop there. There were stores set up.just for that. Otherwise the regular stores were awful. I remember once coming home after being in East Berlin all day doing a museum tour, and going into the first convenience store on the other side of the wall and stuffing myself with Snickers bars and Cokes. The greyness of everything there, and the lack of things that we were used to in the West just did that to you. You wanted to be a glutton after being in a place that so dulled the senses. If that makes any sense.....

Also, the contrast between East and West Berlin was so stark that it just hit you.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.--Marcus Tullius Cicero

scotttie · ‎03-09-2010

On 11/9/2014 mominohio said:
On 11/9/2014 minkbunny said:
At nine years old and reasonably bright, I would think you would have absorbed this news and recalled it. I mean, it was BIG news !

Senseless to shame people who had a childhood without the drama and trauma we have to deal with today as the news is in our lives 24/7. I was raised in the 1960's and only vaguely aware of the Vietnam war and it's ramifications. We were riding bikes, playing dolls and living the life of a child.

Things are different today, but I never criticize people who raise their young children in a child's world and don't expose them to excessive amounts of world events. There is plenty of time for that once they reach junior high age. I also don't condemn those who raise their kids in the "real world" either. It is a choice, and kids deserve an innocent childhood, separate of the news sometimes.

I realize the event the OP doesn't remember isn't a "horrific" event, but I find it refreshing that she had other things in her young life besides world events.

^^^this

scotttie · ‎03-09-2010

I guess it's too much to ask to discuss a world changing event instead of hounding Mellie ${#emotions_dlg.rolleyes}$

***

Mellie, I am happy you brought it up. I was an adult when it happened and truly thought I would never live to see the day. We used to read horrible stories in the news and in articles, books etc. about all the ways people would try to get across that wall. They would be shot if caught or imprisoned.

My late mother in law was a child in N*zi Germany and was there when the wall went up. An aunt of hers ended up on the East (communist ) side. The rest of the family escaped. She told me about running away and how they didn't have anything to eat etc.

ivanatrump · ‎06-26-2014

I remember hearing on the morning news on the radio reports about people escaping or being captured trying to escape, over, under or through the Berlin Wall. It was a joyous day even for Americans when the Wall came down.

In elementary school, we read a bible passage, saluted the flag, sang a patriotic song, then had current events. Once or twice a week each student was given a chance to report on one.