20th Anniversary

[notebuyer]

Click to view

As usual, I don't remember watching this: on the 9th, I spent the day traveling to get to a meeting of the Negotiated Acquisitions Committee in St. Louis, MO. I arrived early in the morning, got my luggage, and took a cab to the hotel, hoping to get a couple hours of shuteye before the meeting opened. I asked the cabbie, "So what's up? Any interesting news?" He looked at me like I was a Martian, and handed me the paper, which had an article describing the wall's fall. I read, and said, "This is really wonderful! Let's hope it goes further!" He looked at me in the mirror a moment again, and said, "Do you really think it will?" I said, "Yes, I think it's the beginning of the crumbling of the walls of the world's largest prison." He said, "I was a defector. I worked as a translator for the KGB in Greece -- and I still have a wife and son in the USSR. I haven't seen them in years. Do you think that they will have a chance to get out?" I said, "Watch for it. There will come a time that they will be able to get out. Tell them to take advantage of it, and move when they can."

He was crying. I offered to pay him for the paper, and he declined, but I did leave a rather large tip when we got to the hotel. I hope it worked out for him and his family.