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Berlin Wall


Twinky
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It's the anniversary of the breaching of the Berlin Wall. The end of an era, really. All the talk in TWI of freedom, democracy, etc. I was in rez at the time. You'd think it was a cause for celebration. I didn't learn it had happened until the December break - I thought I'd misheard, or whoever told me was mistaken.

Quite astonishing that this major world event never raised a whisper in an Ohio cornfield.

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Perhaps it wasn't a big deal in the USA, but in view of US anti-communist rhetoric at the time, I'dve thought it worth a biiiig mention.

If it wasn't a big deal, it must reflect a much more serious insularity than I'd realised, about the US.  Which I don't think was the case.  I think it was just TWI "not entangling us" with world affairs.

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What's twice as shocking to me, although of less relative importance to the posters, is that the people at Gartmore House didn't make any kind of comment, not even at dinner in-house.    Why is that shocking to me?  The country coordinator for Germany was there, helping to run an Advanced Class at the time.  When he had free time, he was often watching the news to keep up (this was pre-internet for most of us.)    

 

I suspect, had vpw not killed himself with carcinogens before that and left office,  he would have had a LOT to say on the subject.

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Can't speak for Gartmore, as I was in the US at the time.

1 hour ago, WordWolf said:

… the people at Gartmore House didn't make any kind of comment, not even at dinner in-house ... The country coordinator for Germany was there,

Where'd you hear that, WW?  Yes, surprising if true; I'd think all Europeans would have been interested and ought to have known this news.

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11 hours ago, Twinky said:

Can't speak for Gartmore, as I was in the US at the time.

Where'd you hear that, WW?  Yes, surprising if true; I'd think all Europeans would have been interested and ought to have known this news.

Everybody had heard the news.  It was the headline of all the UK newspapers the day before the Advanced class started. (The headline for the Daily Mail was "We Belong Together", with a photo of Germans from both East and West holding hands and standing on a piece of the wall.  The headline for the Sun was "Red and Buried!" with a photo of some of the wall's wreckage.)     I expect every attendee knew.   I don't know why there were no comments whatsoever.     I also thought it was strange that WS, the country coordinator from Germany, had to catch his news on the same little TV on the bottom floor "garden level" that the rest of us caught things on.   In fairness, most of the TV I saw then- which wasn't much-  was more at the local pub in the village ("the Black Bull") than the little TV. 

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And now I learn that not only is it true that WS was at Gartmore, but that his wife and new baby and other family were in Berlin at the time and terrified at what might eventuate - nothing, as it happened, but who knew at the time?  It could so easily have gone otherwise.  It seemed joyous at the time - but who expected the wall to be built in the first place?  No doubt others there were also anxious for what the future might bring. 

Chris G33r refused to let WS go home to Berlin and be with his family.  CG said, "If she needs to get herself and the kids out, she'll find a way."  And no thought for any other believers that might be caught up in it.

 

Your caring compassionate ministry at work.  :mad2:

 

Hardly surprising, then, that an Ohio cornfield wasn't on the "hot line." 

 

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We were in residence in early 1993 (family division of the horror that was WC). During that time there was an incident where a helicopter carrying U.S. military was shot down and survivors tortured and their bodies dragged through the streets of Mogadishu(?) And hanged from bridges. I knew nothing about it until the motion picture "Black Hawk Down" was released. 

What offends me about all the silence is that prayer is a powerful weapon and we should have been praying for these situations. As I recall the 9/11 attacks were minimized as well.

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The whole "keep people in the dark" twi thing probably owes itself to vpw not being too smart, so he controlled the access to knowledge to make it look like he had divine sources to puff himself up.   People had to come to him for news and things.    For 15-20 years, it's been FAR too easy to get all sorts of news.  Before, there was radio, TV,  newspapers and so on. The internet's added to that dramatically.  Does it surprise anyone that twi STILL says to stay off the internet?   

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1 hour ago, WordWolf said:

The whole "keep people in the dark" twi thing probably owes itself to vpw not being too smart, so he controlled the access to knowledge to make it look like he had divine sources to puff himself up.   People had to come to him for news and things.    For 15-20 years, it's been FAR too easy to get all sorts of news.  Before, there was radio, TV,  newspapers and so on. The internet's added to that dramatically.  Does it surprise anyone that twi STILL says to stay off the internet?   

Doesn't surprise me.

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1 hour ago, hiway29 said:

I was at an open meeting in the auditorium in '86, before the fall, and Craig was  yelling that we should quit reading newspapers. He literally said  "I'll tell you what to think ".

 

Sounds like...

 

No one. Doesn't sound like anyone

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9 hours ago, outandabout said:

I've had to google stuff on the internet to catch up on things I never knew about while I was in the TWI cocoon.  It's like I was on another planet for 15 years. (or in a coma)

Yeah, me too.  It's weird catching up on things that were top news years or decades ago.

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18 hours ago, hiway29 said:

I was at an open meeting in the auditorium in '86, before the fall, and Craig was  yelling that we should quit reading newspapers. He literally said  "I'll tell you what to think ".

 

That's because he was so spiritual and tapped in.

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  • 10 months later...
On 11/12/2019 at 9:26 AM, Watered Garden said:

We were in residence in early 1993 (family division of the horror that was WC). During that time there was an incident where a helicopter carrying U.S. military was shot down and survivors tortured and their bodies dragged through the streets of Mogadishu(?) And hanged from bridges. I knew nothing about it until the motion picture "Black Hawk Down" was released. 

What offends me about all the silence is that prayer is a powerful weapon and we should have been praying for these situations. As I recall the 9/11 attacks were minimized as well.

WG, I remember 911 quite well; I was here in DC when it happened.  It was a scary time to live, or work in the area.  

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