I am no history buff, and many factors played a role, but here is my take. Mikael Gorbachev was the tipping point. A moderate who came to power and began floating notions of Perestroika and Glasnost. Openess, transparency and a restructuring of the sprawling Soviet Union, and by extension, the satellite states. This was very different than the rhetoric from previous Soviet leaders and people were taking notice around the world, most notably in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and East Germany.
And they began to gather. They began to act. They saw that they had been given an opening and they pressed their advantage relentlessly. Protests that were once small and fraught with peril were now spreading, and growing. The sheer breadth of the human will for a different way became irrefutable and unstoppable until it culminated in what was one of the great mass media visuals of the last century.
Breaking through the wall.
A stunning moment of humans uniting to express their desire for a better way and perhaps the greatest example in human history of people working together for a common peaceful goal.
Then again, we all have walls around us. Private, personal, political, societal, cultural, religious. This week, I'm going to find one of my own walls and bust right through it in honour of those folks who risked all for what they believe in, and by extension, changed the world.
Then I'm going to toast Mr. Gorbachev with a shot of vodka.
Its going to be a good week for breaking down walls.
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