The Boy and the Bear

“Daddy, whats the story of the bear? They wrote on it make love not war.”…asked the boy curiously to his father. They were in Berlin for a visit. They had visited a few historical sites including the famous Berlin wall. The boy was fascinated to hear that the wall had fallen just a few years prior to his birth.

“Daddy, why did they build a wall to separate them?” he asked in a confused tone. “Did they not like each other? Were the people mean to each other?” He continued as he looked up to his father for guidance.

“No my son, its a bit more complicated than that.” he looked down and leaned towards his son as he lowered his upper body to come to his level. “The world is not always so direct; black or white, the world can take many shapes son” he continued.

“So what caused the divide?”, the boy followed up with further questions. “Were the kids mean to each other? Were they allowed to play together?” The father was struggling to find the words to explain the complexity to his son.

“Son,” he paused as he gathered his breath. “Many years ago, Germany was at war with most of the world. This was the second world war. We had forgotten that we had more in common that united us and had focused solely on the things that divided us — like race, religion, language.” He continued as he was now looking at his sons face…he looked saddened to hear what his father was saying.

“Daddy, that sounds really sad 😢,” the boy responded. “So did we fight because we were different?” he looked at his dad to ask. “What happened during the war?” Would they have treated us different because we are African?” sighed the boy as he embraced his father in a hug. Looking for comfort and assurance.

“Son, as humans we need to learn from our history. We need to learn from our mistakes. The war left a great hole behind, families were divided, property looted, buildings bombed or burned down and the world thrown into a chaos.” he tried to explain. “But through it all Son, we managed to get back to what made us humans. Hope and dreams and the shared love for peace and fulfillment of humanity.

“Over the years, Germany and the world at large continues learning and healing.” He paused to let it all sink it. “As you can see its not yet perfect, but look at how we were welcomed here, us as Africans and even the. refugees a few years back. Son, that is the side of humanity that I believe in. The world around us may be in turmoil and grief and it is our responsibility to never let history repeat itself”

“Son, we must remember the strength of what unites us rather than the divisions we create between us. Above everything else, if we have love and treat each other with love, then the world would be a better place. Son, I think that is why they wrote that, to always remind us, ”make love not war”.