sometimes
I see resemblance from when I was in first grade
and the Russian troops took over the whole block where we had lived
and teachers at school were always aggressive and not as peaceful as my parents
and some of the school boys were just as uncivilized
when we moved to the 'west'
there too, the Americans took over whole areas, streets and villas for their military
at least there was some more food; for milk you still had to bring your own bottle
and a loaf or less of rationed bread you took home under your arm
newspaper was still too precious: you needed it to wipe your arse with
anyway,
when the Berlin Wall came down
the 20th century came to an end and communism socialism collapsed
but what happened before came "back to life"
and my first reaction was that the American Democracy will be next to collapse,
being itself a child of the much anti-church French Revolution and its train of thought
preceding and succeeding
Much reminds me of my teachers from the first school year on
including the preceding war, the subsequent occupations, the poverty
and the many years of ruins and life ruined because of war, devastation, starving
We get fooled by this modern stuff, internet, cars that kill us, devastate health and environment
worst is, people in leadership roles have had not to learn much of what had happened
actually, the curricula now got far simpler, less demanding than when I was eight,
and to learn English, French, then at ten Latin and on and on through the school years
and teachers were always 'pro" the good old time or 'con' the 'present occupation'
so we boys stood with one foot in some reality,
with the other we existed from the food rationing
Language remains the same, negative, the sentiment still rich in prejudice,
wars and implicated churches forgotten, life and life lived disparaged by new faces,
same foul ideology yet different generation, same theology,
and sure they are as any ideologue the world has experienced in the past
and as if getting ready for a likewise yet unknown dismal future