WWII

I wrote this a few days ago and didn't end up posting it. Rather than revisit it to clean up, I'll just post it as is.

You just can't get away from it here. I don't have to be here in Germany for very long to remember how much modern war does to a country and how long the reminders last. We have now been in Germany for a total of almost two weeks and in that time I have personally been affected by TWO BOMB removals. Both bombs were WWII era, American bombs that were dropped by planes some time between 1941 and 1945 which didn't explode, but instead were buried deep in the ground under debris and earth. Both were found during some kind of excavation for completely normal reasons, such as building a new apartment. When this happens, the area around the bomb has to be evacuated, hundreds, if not thousands of police officers, fire fighters, and EMTs have to come to the area to facilitate the evacuation, block roads, and be available in the event that something goes wrong. Then the area is analzyed, the bomb is analzyed and if it is possible the bomb is very carefully moved to a safer space to be detonated. Yes detonated. These two bombs both were safely moved and successfully detonated (big boomb, lots of dirt, clouds of smoke, no damage to buildings or people). Children here are raised to know that if you find something concrete with metal sticking out of it, you move away as quickly as possible, even though it is most likely just the remnants of an old bomb that blew up decades ago.

It is facsinating to be here in this country where peope still are reminded daily of a war their grandparents fought, and at the same time to read in the newspapers that perhaps we Americans, who left all of those grim reminders sixty+ years ago, are ready to add another country to our list. Have we not done enough damage to last a lifetime and then some? As I have been famous for saying, I wouldn't want to live in a country in this world that does not have a strong military, but I also believe a lot of people in our wonderful country could stand to be have the eperience I had today. Traffic jam on the freeway, in a hurry to make it to the airport because the two hours we gave ourselves to get to the airport when it normally takes one hour wasn't quite enough given all the snow on the Autobahn, saw a possible route around the traffic jam, drove down into the town, realized everyone was turning around and start to complain about traffic and blocking the roads, and what is this all about... Policeman standing in the freezing cold snowing, blowing weather informs us that no one can drive through the town because a WWII bomb has been found and needs to be removed. Suddenly no one was complaining and a late arrival to the airport didn't seem quite as important... particularly when we heard on the radio that 9000 people had to evacuate their homes and an entire hospital had to be emptied. Perhaps that kind of expience has something to do with the overwhelming majority of Germans who are incensed that their military in involved in the war in Afgahnistan.