Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I distinctly heard it


In the "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech Pres. Kennedy said,

Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum."  Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

[I thought "ich" was pronounced "ick", but he says, "Eesh."]

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.

There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future.

Let them come to Berlin.

...etc.

Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen.
Let them come to Berlin.

======================
Thinking about that speech I thought of the phrase, attributed to Bill Clinton:  "I feel your pain" -- some people would say that's a pale comparison...I'm not comparing, just -- thinking about empathy, and liking people, and having peace not war, and making things better not worse...After the school shooting in Connecticut someone commented on the internet that we need a new peace movement, that begins at home.  Like --

"Ich bin ein Berliner!"
You're a Berliner -- so am I!
We're with you!
We feel your pain....
I am you!
We are the same -- we all want peace;
be nice don't kill people

Be Nice And Get Along! -- I was thinking that, too trying to help in some way or at least be supportive, and then was frustrated, feeling like, Yes but sometimes it's a different situation, and each interaction does not mirror your own, and sometimes if you feel someone's pain too much, you can get it mixed up with your own pain, then you're mixed up....

Be Nice And Get Along -- BNAGA
B-NAGA!

It's OK; you're OK; misinterpretation -- B-NAGA!  B-NAGA!  they are nice, it's just the occasional misinterpretation, maybe....I feel like each person has to make it a point to Not see insult or intrusion where there may not be any....

There's a scene toward the beginning of the film Annie Hall, where Woody Allen highlights, and riffs on, this idea -- the sense that sometimes we might perceive insult, intrusion, or disrespect and it might not be....(even if it is, sometimes we can ignore it -- not dignify it -- choose to respond only to what we want to respond to....that's something else Kennedy did -- in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Khrushchev wrote two letters, Kennedy responded to one & not the other, thereby getting some control & framing the discussion....)

(OK, Pres. Kennedy, you go and sit over there, we're going to back to Woody Allen.)

A Manhattan street -- nothing overpowering, romantic, or glamorous -- just a street, couple of pedestrians coming toward the camera and then disappearing beyond it.  You can hear Alvy Singer (W. Allen) and his friend Rob in conversation, but they're so far in the distance, you cannot see them until they approach close enough, moving into view, coming toward the audience.

ALVY:  I distinctly heard it.  He muttered under his breath, "Jew."

ROB:  You're crazy!

ALVY:  No, I'm not.  We were walking off the tennis court, and you know, he was there and me and his wife, and he looked at her and then they both looked at me, and under his breath he said, "Jew."

ROB:  Alvy, you're a total paranoid.

ALVY:  Wh-  How am I a paran-?  Well, I pick up on those kind o' things.  You know, I was having lunch with some guys from NBC, so I said ... uh, "Did you eat yet, or what?" and Tom Christie said, "No, didchoo?"  Not, did you, didchoo eat?  Jew?  No, not did you eat, but Jew eat?  Jew.  You get it?  Jew eat?

ROB:  Ah, Max, you, uh ...
ALVY:  Stop calling me Max.
ROB:  Why, Max?  It's a good name for you.  Max, you see conspiracies in everything.

ALVY:  No, I don't!  You know, I was in a record store.  Listen to this - so I know there's this big tall blond crew-cutted guy and he's lookin' at me in a funny way and smiling and he's saying, "Yes, we have a sale this week on Wagner." [pronounced VOG-ner]  VOG-ner, Max, VOG-n er -- so I know what he's really trying to tell me, very significantly -- Wagner.

ROB:  Right, Max.  California, Max.
ALVY:  Ah.
ROB:  Let's get the hell outta this crazy city.
ALVY:  Forget it, Max.
ROB:  -- we move to sunny L.A.  All of show business is out there, Max.

ALVY:  No, I cannot.  You keep bringing it up, but I don't wanna live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light.

================== B-NAGA

-30-

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