There was a real feeling of being involved in a collective event. Everyone was in good spirits and kind to each other. There was such a range of ages, showing the importance of the event not just to the people who were around at the time, but also to generations since. It feels special to me because I was alive - even if I don't recall the event itself. It feels like it was the last time in Western civilisation people created such a force that change became inevitable. I feel proud to have been a part of society when it happened.
Timothy Garton Ash recently asked in the Guardian where are the '89 generation? - we hear about the '45 generation post-WWII and we hear about the '68 generation but not about the '89ers. He posits that the '89 generation were those who were born around '89 and who are leaving universities now and entering into the world. It is up to our generation to carry on the change that was began in '89. Whether or not it is true, it certainly gives a direction to the generation that I find myself a part of. On 5th November, I watched the premier of Anders Østergaard and Erzsébet Rácz's documentary '1989 ' that was streamed live in 53 countries across Europe - it was special to feel a part of something and part of the past. The film was about Miklós Németh and his part in the opening of the border between Hungary and West Germany. Such an unassuming man had such an impact on world history. There was a story, told by his wife, of the last person to be shot dead trying to cross from East to West. Németh opened the border because of his death. A true, unknown martyr. Sometimes human desire becomes an entity in itself, weighted, forceful. |