Three events occurred in the past 30 years that I never imagined would happen. One will be 'commemorated' this weekend in Berlin. Those of you under 30 might not completely grasp how stunning these events were for those of us born in the early 1950's.
The loss of the Titanic always seemed to be the ultimate unrecoverable maritime disaster. The great ship was gone forever. None of us could begin to imagine that she would ever be found. The great mystery could never be solved. Period. When Robert Ballard and his fellow explorers located her, and broadcast photos of her to the world, I could not really believe what I was seeing. History had reclaimed the Titanic, and she could be explored and marked and salvaged (or at least some of the debris could be). How in the world was this even possible? You will smile to know that I am still amazed when I read articles about the various analyses of data from the exploratory dives. I just can't believe Titanic was ever found.
The other two events concern the downfall and dissolution of the Soviet Union. When the news broke that the Berlin Wall was falling, I felt another shock to my understanding of the world as it was. And later, as country after country separated from the USSR and suddenly the Soviet Union no longer existed, I had to keep looking up at the night sky to make sure that the stars were still in their right places. How in the world was this even possible?
The menace of the Soviet Union colored some of my earliest memories. I just barely remember how the launch of Sputnik disturbed my father. The Cuban Missile Crisis terrified me. I cried myself to sleep during that whole time period because I knew that Norfolk would be an almost certain target. The Soviet Union always scared me to death. (Putin scares me now, too, but that's another story.) Growing up in Tidewater Virginia, I knew very well how the Navy was patrolling and defending us from Soviet submarines. Now, in the early 90's, news of the USSR's disintegration absolutely stunned me. And it all happened so quickly and so relentlessly. Another set of circumstances that were never supposed to be possible.
Symbolic of all this upheaval in the USSR was the removal of the Berlin Wall. I remember very clearly when the wall was erected. We read about it in my third grade class at Westhaven Elementary in Portsmouth. I can still recall the photos in the papers and in our "Weekly Reader" paper at school. The last segment of the Iron Curtain had been placed. Everything behind it was inaccessible, probably forever. I know that's a difficult concept for everyone today. For me, travel to Leipzig or Dresden or Prague or Warsaw or Budapest or even Moscow was 'the impossible dream'. Never going to happen. (And my travel desires were present by the time I hit junior high school!!) Then the world turned upside down, or at least tilted onto a new axis. The menacing, monolithic Soviet Union evaporated, and the countries it dominated were once again free and independent. Both the real and the figurative walls had come down. Inconceivable.
News stories will once again feature the Berlin Wall this weekend, on the 25th anniversary of its fall. If I want to, I can travel throughout all of Eastern Europe. I can even travel to St. Petersburg (which I first knew as Leningrad) or Moscow. And I just might. I could even sail to the location in the North Atlantic beneath whose surface Titanic lies. What was inconceivable to a 20-year-old would be ridiculously easy for a 60-year-old.
Though I still shake my head at these three events, I am encouraged by them. If these inconceivable things could happen, I hope that--no, I believe that-- other inconceivable, wonderful, positive things can also happen. The people involved in these events never gave up hope, despite long years of struggle. I won't give up either!
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