Freedom, Love, and More Available Flights
- Reagan tells us that the U.S. and the rest of the West are totally willing to work with the East and be friends.
- And the best place to get that ball rolling? Berlin: a city divided in a country divided.
- The Four Power Agreement mentioned next is also known as the Berlin Agreement, and it's basically where the U.S., Soviet Union, U.K., and France agreed to a bunch of details about the relations between East and West Germany.
- Reagan says, "Gorby, let's do this thing so everyone can enjoy the awesomeness of the city of Berlin."
- Specifically, let's get some more flights into and out of Berlin. Heck, let's strive to make it an aviation hub.
- Let's have international meetings in Berlin, Reagan suggests. UN meetings, maybe, or world conferences on human rights.
- And let's let kids and scholars visit both sides of the city, and maybe even other parts of the East and West.
- The West is up for it; how about the Soviets?
- South Korea, Reagan says, has offered to allow some 1988 Olympic events to be held in North Korea.
- Maybe Berlin should do something similar and even offer to host the Olympics at some point. (This didn't happen, BTW.)
- What makes Berlin awesome? Sure, there's courage and determination and all that, but the biggest thing is love, Reagan emphasizes.
- Love is what keeps West Berlin free and economically viable.
- Then he tells us, "The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront" (119-120).
- Case in point: the TV tower at Alexanderplatz and the "Pope's revenge."
- Just like the city of Berlin, Reagan continues, symbols of faith and love cannot be suppressed. This wall can't stand up to the awesome values of the West, like faith and truth and, of course, freedom.