20 years ago...

Twenty years ago today, there was a city cloaked in the Gray.

It was once a magical city, full of wonder and mystery, like a fairytale you can touch and feel and taste. But the Gray had blotted out the fantasy and pushed the wonder into dustbins and deep recesses of cabinet drawers in grandmothers' cottages. And the grandmothers didn't open those drawers for fear of what might be said even when their children asked ever so politely.
One cold November day in the city, a group of students met to remember the death of young man. A fellow student, who many years before, like themselves, lived in a gray place where a few men thought they knew what was best for their tiny corner of the world. He gave up his life to oppose them. The students simply wanted to remember him.
Yet something amazing began to occur as the students gathered in the midst of their darkened city. Small bursts of fantasy and wonder began to pop from around them. It was like the swirls of a soap bubble caught in the afternoon light of summer. The students told their friends who then told their friends and soon there were so many colorful bursts coming from the students that the makers of the Gray took notice. They sent Gray Makers out to spread more Gray and to take away the students with the most color. But for every one that disappeared, many more colors appeared in their place!
Do you know what happened next? The Trolley Drivers saw that their trolleys were jolly when the Gray went away. The Factory Men saw the Gray fading and they too, quit their waiting. Grandmothers opened cabinets long shut tight and they all joined the students as they shouted and cheered and their magical city became, well, bright! So, they said to the Gray Makers, "Go Away! Go Away!" And they chanted and swayed and laughed and played in the midst of their magical city.

Tonight, Suzi & I joined a small group in Amman to celebrate the fall of Communism in the Czech Republic. There was a visit from the Royal Family, an exhibit of photographers and their work from Velvet Revolution of 1989 and presentation on the life of former President Vaclav Havel... the brightest color of them all.