I am listening to "The Year that Changed the World" by Michael Mayer about the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. I feel I understand the group of angry but confused leaders of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany as Gorbachev changes course for his country and the related states. Imagine being a middle-aged, hard-working executive in the Communist administration of these countries, feeling that you are doing a good job accepting orders and adhering to policy decisions and handling papers. True, things are going down hill steadily in terms of the comfort of your people but you quite literally can do nothing about most of the vexing problems besetting your country.
You hear disturbing news. Especially, if you are part of the government of East Germany, the news that Hungary, a popular destination for your own citizens for summer vacations, has announced that it can no longer afford to spend so much on keeping its border with Austria, a Western country, closed. Horrors! It simply removed the barriers and checkpoints and said anyone who wishes can cross in either direction. The East German ('GDR' - German Democratic Republic) government had determined to stop the hemorrhaging stream of citizens leaking into the West. Many of its citizens were killed by border guards while trying to cross the border out of the country. Now, there was no problem for East Germans to travel to Hungary and cross out of the Communist world.
Several times before, when events took a 'wrong' turn, Moscow had intervened with its troops. Surely, things would continue as they had. But wait, Gorby is doing nothing. For over 50 years, things had been settled and controlled. Surely, they would remain that way. They didn't, though.
Persistence and tenacity definitely pay off. If, at first, you don't succeed, try and try again. On the other hand, as Mother Theresa advised, accept. Flex with life and be part of its changes. Sometimes, it is very hard to know which way to go.
