Concentric Circles

Two thumbs up seems not enough, but a modern thinker is always in some phase of self-correcting when it comes to lauding praise upon anything; the danger of sounding Pollyanna looms heavily upon the psyche, often preventing me from being what is currently taboo: sincere. That being said, I could not help but beam, and even shed a tear or two, watching the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Something about it hearkened back to the 90s, back to a time before 9/11, when Pax Americana was a reality and hope filled the hearts of many, including me. It was actually possible in that day and age to believe that perhaps war would be no more, that the prosperity of the 90s would go on forever and that the world would make a “great leap forward”, insisting on the potential of Man. I remember crying after 9/11, some time after, actually, is when I finally let go. But, it wasn’t for the thousands of victims that I cried, it was for the loss of Hope and the implications of what 9/11 would mean for our future of all of us. Not long after the attack, it became apparent that this next generation would be one fraught with worry and disillusionment, and that this dream of the fulfillment of human potential was a false one somehow, that the green side of the meadow on which we were standing was just a bubble in time and the ground beneath our feet would soon be scorched earth.

But yesterday afternoon, watching the Opening Ceremonies, a chord struck within me, a chord similar to the one that used to resonate there back in the 90s, and I couldn’t help but be moved. Something about it heralded a new beginning as a feeling welled within like those hopeful days before 9/11. Something about yesterday signaled that the last 8 years could have been just a bump in the road and that we soon would all be united again, back on the path of a real future for us all.


This question inspired from the 60s marches, ‘what would happen if we really did give peace a chance?’ has been on my mind for some time. The hard-lined commentators seem to have come out of the woodwork against Germany’s “weak” troop response in Afghanistan. Many say that Europe cannot commit because it lives in a bubble of peace and stability both economic and social. But, it is only here in Germany that I have ever seen such a strong conscious movement to question what the end result of societal choices made today would bring tomorrow. The question of “how will it affect others around me” seems to have been emblazoned upon the German spirit, as a result of its tragic past. Never could I imagine seeing in America posters such as I see here with lines like “What kind of society do you want to build?” upon them.

Europe is not perfect. There is still racism and anti-Semitism, anti-foreign sentiments, and conceit without measure. But, don’t the same critics who blame Germany for being so insular in its prosperity that it puts its head in the sand when something outside its borders goes terribly wrong, don’t these people have to admit that the peace and prosperity present here were earned, that the social architects of the 60s an 70s should be praised for the Germany of today? I mean, why would a society that is doing so well force itself headlong into situations which could jeopardize its own existence? It seems that Germany’s greatest critics would have it willingly make the same mistakes that GW has made for the States. We will never know what would have happened if America had refused to let its Commander-In-Chief persuade it into unjust war. Something tells me, though, that much of what is going wrong in America today can be charted back to this bad choice, all these negative aspects being a part of some strange ripple effect flowing from the concentric epicenter. I could imagine that the housing crash would be quite a reach to link to Iraq, but I doubt that its economic effect would have been so great if the national debt weren’t already at a critical level. Now, I’m just meandering.