Only Yesterday: Remembering East Germany
GUEST COLUMN
“You want to search my box of Pampers?” I exclaimed.
I couldn’t believe I’d heard the border guard at Checkpoint Charlie correctly. And why was she eying me so suspiciously?
Yet, of course, in April 1988 it was East German security policy to examine all incoming vehicles in the search for drugs, books, tapes — anything that might corrupt or contaminate the East German citizenry.
The guard removed the Pampers box from my car and examined it with a mechanical device. She then selected one of several bags in my trunk to inspect, plus the glove compartment in the car, before she felt satisfied I was not transporting any illegal material into East Berlin.
You May Also Enjoy
Because we are ultimately not the source of our own value or knowledge, then "finding ourselves" is not the ultimate goal; finding (or approaching) the truth is.
Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty... Love for the Papacy and Filial Resistance to the Pope in the History of the Church
Evidently a man of coarse, even slovenly, personal habits, Auden was as meticulous as T.S. Eliot in the precision of his verse.