Berlin Wall Essay

Freedom is defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” However, prior to 1989, citizens of Berlin, Germany were somewhat unaware of this concept that seems so commonplace to Americans. The Berlin wall was built through the middle of the German capital, separating east and west Europe. The eastern half was ridden with economic restraint, poverty, and communism, while the western half was quite acquainted with freedom and the pleasures of the western world. Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States from 1981-1989, spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987, urging the government to tear down the dividing wall and expose both halves to personal and economic freedom. Reagan uses

Reagan delivers the fact that something deeply rooted in the citizens of Berlin keeps them there, stating, “‘Something… that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence, that refuses to release human energies or aspirations, In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin — is love’” (Reagan 37). This quote shows that love for each other, love for the city, and love for freedom keep the citizens in Berlin through all of its misgivings and obstacles that stand against freedom. Thus, this concept contrasts all of the beliefs of the Communists, considering that “[t]he totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront” (Reagan 37). What Reagan, the western world, Americans, and even love itself directly contradict this affirmation of restraint. In the same regard, Reagan gives an example of this contrast in action. He relays the fact that a television tower was built after the erection of the Berlin wall, but the tower, in the eyes of the communist side, had “one major flaw: treating the glass sphere