The Berlin Wall functioned for about 28 years. Many were killed attempting to cross it. It was constructed in 1961 and physically destroyed in 1991; ideologically, it was destroyed well before that.

That destruction was hastened by two fine United States presidents: John F. Kennedy at the Brandenburg Gate (“Ich bin ein Berliner”) and Ronald Reagan, in the same location, two years before the wall fell (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”).

It was erected to keep people in as well as to keep others out.

Historically, that wall didn’t work out well.

Paul Gay

Roque Bluffs