Elonka wrote:
] ] Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate
] ] West Berlin, Germany
] ] June 12, 1987
] ]
] ] This speech was delivered to the people of West Berlin,
] ] yet it was also audible on the East side of the Berlin
] ] wall.
]  . . .
] ] Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors
] of
] ] this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides
] the
] ] entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those
] ] barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire,
] concrete,
] ] dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no
] ] visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and
]
] ] checkpoints all the same--still a restriction on the right
] to
] ] travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and
] women
] ] the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin
] where
] ] the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your
] city,
] ] where the news photo and the television screen have
] imprinted
] ] this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the
] world.
] ] Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German,
]
] ] separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner,
] forced
] ] to look upon a scar.
]
] In regards to the death of President Reagan: I'm reminded of
] a time that we passed ever so briefly... I was working in Los
] Angeles at the time, during one of the post-Reagan
] administrations. I was standing streetside for some reason,
] probably waiting for a bus. There were few other people on
] the street, and I became aware of a large black car idling
] nearby, and then the black-suited and earplugged men who
] seemed to suddenly appear out of the shadows, standing quietly
] but obviously very very alert to their surroundings. A few
] moments later, I saw the reason for the Secret Service, as
] Reagan emerged from the building, strode briskly across the
] sidewalk, and smiled and waved at me as I stood there stunned
] and agape. He quickly entered the car, and then he and the
] dark ghosts were gone, leaving only the car's tiny puddle of
] dripped air conditioner condensation in their wake.
]
] I was sorry to hear of his death, though of course it wasn't a
] surprise. I can't really say whether or not I liked him, but
] I did respect him, especially since he was President during
] the time that I was in the USAF, and as such, he was my boss.
]
]
] And I will spend a moment of silence this Friday, in honor of
] his memory.

Very well put, Elonka, he will be missed :(

RE: Ronald Reagan's 'Tear Down This Wall' Speech