Article April 16, 2007 Issue

WHEN DIVIDED BECOMES UNITED

DAVID HARNED

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

THERE WAS A TIME when I assumed separation was the way of the world. Our side, their side: This division was thought to be a kind of balance.

On a summer evening in 1981, my wife and I were returning from Berlin on a train bound for Hamburg, Germany. The train moved at half speed through the countryside of what was then the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also called East Germany.

In Berlin, the wall, the wire, the blocked streets, checkpoints—these reinforced the status quo. If I caught a glimpse of someone on the other side, our eyes never met. Even as we toured East Berlin's fabulous museums on a one-day visa, the differences seemed too great or the prohibitions seemed too strong to make an acquaintance.

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