Berlin… I’ve never seen another place that changes itself as often as this one does.  This is not even close to being the oldest city in Europe, but since its beginning It has metamorphosed from decade to decade into something different from what was when it was just a small village. I find myself thinking and saying the United States cannot become a country that denies “different” individuals a safe place to live… and then I hear a politician who arrogantly promises people who follow him a place that denies sanctuary to fragile people who are “different.”  Immediately before World War II Berlin was a city of almost 4 million people. It has at times been a place of sanctuary for millions of displaced persons… and it has at other times been a place of terror for people who didn’t fit the appropriate definition of legitimacy.  According to city guides Berlin and its surrounding urban area make it the third largest city in the world. I'm not sure I believe their description of their city, but I'll check it when I get home.  

When I was first in Berlin fewer than two decades ago, it was still easy to find areas where great sections of the wall separated East Berlin from West Berlin. Now there are only a few pieces of the wall standing for tourist photographs.  The joke here is that desks all over the world display little pieces of the old wall brought back by people who have visited Berlin since the wall came down officially in 1989. I remind myself that responsible citizens of the United States must stand against political leaders who would make America a scary place to live for any group of citizens.

One of the things that I came across on a busy street was a display of TOM’S shoes.  My friend Hajime Birnbaum has been and still is an executive with the company that gives away to someone poor a pair of shoes for every pair that it sells on the commercial market. Tom’s shoes represents one of the best impulses of business in the world.  Berlin under Hitler represented the scariest, the worst reason to be in business.  We must be careful.  The world is still not a safe place for people whose race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation makes them “different”  from the majority of people who see themselves as right and appropriate in their own race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.  

Berlin today seems to have become again a place of sanctuary.  Diversity among people is obvious even on the streets in this city.  It seems strange and is sobering when I get acquainted with a citizen here who is appalled by what some politicians in America are saying about what needs to be done to make that country a secure place for its people.