I looked at the scene with the trees, grass, sidewalk, curb and bus and immediately thought, "New Jersey!" Scrolling the video back to read the license plate on the bus, it was indeed, New Jersey.
At the time the Berlin wall fell, I was chatting from my college library in Massachusetts to a scared kid in Berlin - over IRC on a VAX/VMX terminal. This was 3 days before CNN announced that the wall was falling.
I'll never forget how the chat banter started. I asked him the typical "how are you" and he replied "I'm scared." No one does that. I asked him why and he said "the wall is coming down". At first thought. I thought, "wall? What wall? The great wall of CHINA? The Berlin wall?" Then I asked, "where do you live?"
"Berlin", he replied.
I stood up and looked around the library, looking at everyone as they were, before they knew about this world changing moment that was about to happen.
The joy of knowing such an amazing and wonderful secret that everyone would soon know about was almost too much to contain. It was a rare rare moment and I had the benefit of knowing.
Later on, I called my father who was in the US Army Intelligence in Germany in 1957 and told him "the wall was coming down, just you wait".
Later on, I checked in on my contact in Berlin almost every hour or so and heard his description of the changes going on and the fear and anticipation of what was to come.
That moment, that few days, where I was the privileged recipient of being tied in to someone on the ground, while the barrier fell, was an honor I will always cherish.
To the young man on the other end of the terminal in West Berlin, I wish you the best man.
You and I knew before the rest of the world, before the world was connected by the internet, that the world was just about to get a little bit closer.
I'll never forget how the chat banter started. I asked him the typical "how are you" and he replied "I'm scared." No one does that. I asked him why and he said "the wall is coming down". At first thought. I thought, "wall? What wall? The great wall of CHINA? The Berlin wall?" Then I asked, "where do you live?"
"Berlin", he replied.
I stood up and looked around the library, looking at everyone as they were, before they knew about this world changing moment that was about to happen.
The joy of knowing such an amazing and wonderful secret that everyone would soon know about was almost too much to contain. It was a rare rare moment and I had the benefit of knowing.
Later on, I called my father who was in the US Army Intelligence in Germany in 1957 and told him "the wall was coming down, just you wait".
Later on, I checked in on my contact in Berlin almost every hour or so and heard his description of the changes going on and the fear and anticipation of what was to come.
That moment, that few days, where I was the privileged recipient of being tied in to someone on the ground, while the barrier fell, was an honor I will always cherish.
To the young man on the other end of the terminal in West Berlin, I wish you the best man.
You and I knew before the rest of the world, before the world was connected by the internet, that the world was just about to get a little bit closer.
Cheers,
- Alex Zavatone