Kultur 11 Chenyu Wang

Breaking down the wall in the head

I once read a lot and watched a lot discovery program about the east and west Germany. Actually, the most difficult part would be to break down the wall in the head. To help reconstruct the east German, the people in the west should pay the reunification tax. THe people in the west think that the East people are deploit their money, while the east think that the west people think them two be the second class citizens. For me, the berlin wall barrier is not only because of the money issue. It is about the whole system and whole belief in one's brain. In childhood and our most vulnerable age, we are more likely to accept and get accustommed to certain value. The communist value was deeply rooted in the people in East Germany since all their education system and the way of doing things is a socialistic way. No matter how good the capitalism would be, some still stick to their own belief. A christian will always be a christian, a protestant will always stay protestant. 

It is not only Germany who has endured the socialism. Korean, China. South Korea actually accept the north Korean people who flee to their country. However, most of them has endured a identity crisis. Who are they ? Why they are in South Korea ? Isn't the old system from which we grow up seems to be better. When you get used to eating pizza, you may eat pizza in the rest of your life. I am a Chinese who just arrived America last year. Though I know that capitalism is more advanced, from real world experience .I still believe that socialism could be realized in my own country, but in a different way. We are just in somewhere between. That would be the deep rooted notion in my mind.  A former East German citizen said that if you do not challenge or critique the government or if you are irrelevant to politics, you will have a really good life in Germany.  But if you look at the nowadays capitalistic Germany, 1 out of 5 German citizens thought they are marginalized by the society. That was worse than the East Germany before. Every citizen, if they want to go to school or go to the hospital ,they do not have to pay. 

But people need freedom after all. Capitalism give the people the right to critique the government and to actively work to attain something. So if Soviet Union did not took apart, is it that the world still believe in socialism ? Well, the answer would be, the winner takes it all.