This song brings out some pretty powerful emotions for me. For one, I remember when the song came out and I first heard it on the radio. I was 13-14 (a very impressionable age), and the lyrics and events described in the song moved me. For those of you that aren't familiar with the song, it's about the fall of Communism and the changes in Eastern Europe ca. 1990. I very clearly remember riding with my uncle Steve and cousin Kevin in Poway listening to the news about the Berlin Wall falling not much before then. As a child of the end of the Cold War the Russians (Soviets, then) were always the enemies of my Army-brat childhood. To think of the people of Berlin reunited with friends and families they had been separated from by the Berlin Wall nearly moved me to tears.
Did you ever think
That we could be so close
Like brothers.
...
Where the children of tomorrow
Dream and wave
In the Wind of Change
I was able to see the effects of some of those changes firsthand on my mission in Bulgaria. I served there from the fall of 1998 to the late summer of 2000. When I got there I loved to hear some of the more experienced missionaries talk about how it had been in the 18 months previous to my arrival. Standing in line for food wasn't uncommon. Missionaries didn't work publicly as much die to pressure from the local authorities. The Brutalist architecture favored by the communists was everywhere, creating an oppressive atmosphere for life.
But the call of freedom was there. Whether it was in support of the "free" football team, FC Levski,** or in talking to the youth that had some hope for the future, you could always see freedom's undertones in Bulgarian society, or at least the potential for freedom.
I was told that Bulgaria was ruled by a corrupt political class. These politicians engaged in wholesale rape of the country's resources. It was a beautiful country; I marveled at what could be done with the proper investment and people. What could have been and what could be was frequently at the front of my mind.
And now as I sit and listen to the song I wonder what is in store for us as a people and a nation. You can't deny that the times, they're a changin', and I don't know what it will bring next. I am somewhat of a realist (a realist-idealist?), and I fear that it probably won't be full of happy times. The phrase "These are the good old days" comes to mind.
I intended to make some kind of statement here but ended up rambling a little.
* My listening tastes generally favor Electronic music while coding, or pipe organ music. I have been known to listen to Toccata and Fugue in D minor on repeat for hours on end while coding. I needed a mental break during lunch so I switched from Daft Punk to something I hadn't heard in a while and this is what I got.
** I'm a closet CSKA fan. In The Cardinal of the Kremlin I was slightly jealous of Filitov and his enthusiasm for hocky and the Red Army team. I got to live that dream in Bulgaria, too, but with football/soccer.
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