THE KANSAS CITY KANSAN

– Oct. 2003 –

This past summer, I had the opportunity to participate in an educational exchange program in Europe.  Funded by the German Government, “Germany Today” is a program and each year invites 20 Americans and Canadians to study current issues in Germany and Europe.  Our group consisted largely of college professors, a few trade specialists, myself, and a member of the Canadian Parliament.  We studied two issues:  1) the ongoing issues resulting from the consolidation of east and west Germany, and 2) issues involved with the enlargement of the European Union.

Although we’ve had issues with the consolidation of  Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KS, our endeavor seems minor compared to the ongoing efforts to consolidate Germany, her government, and her people.  Sixty million people live in a land a little larger than Texas, one third of which was under communist rule for forty-five years.  There were two national governments with multibillion dollar budgets, and thousands of bureaucrats; two military forces; two retirement and health care systems, etc.  Luckily, they speak one language and have common history.  Germany is the third largest economy in the world, and remains one of our best friends and trading partners.  Germany is to Europe what Johnson County is to Kansas; a large populous territory full of educated wealthy people.  Germany and Johnson County are both economic engines.  Germany generates large amounts of revenue for the European Union, and Johnson County does the same for Kansas.

The worldwide trend seems to be towards consolidating and unifying businesses and governments into larger, more cohesive blocks.  Other examples include the corporate mega-mergers of Exon-Mobil; BP-Amoco, or Burlington Northern Santa Fe.  NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, is an example of a trade block.  The European Union is a trade block with a common currency.

The second issue our group studied was enlargement of the European Union.  The E.U. was founded in 1957 to unify the free nations of western Europe so they could better stand against communism.  Although not as strong or as unified as our American federal government, the E.U. is essentially a fourth layer of government which sets common standards and regulations that Europeans can all live by.  The E.U. attempts to forge the individual European nations into a cohesive trade block which speaks with one voice.  Enlargement means growing the E.U. from its current fifteen member nations to twenty-five.  The new members include the island nations of Malta and Cypress, and former east block countries Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovenia.  “Enlargement” is not a consolidation where governments are merged; its more like unifying a group of independent nations.

Our group spent time primarily in Berlin, Bonn, and Brussels.  We also traveled to Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in the old East Germany and Posnan, Poland.  It was a tale of two cities in comparison.  The people in Posnan are optimists, and see European Union enlargement as an opportunity.  Posnan has plans, work ethic, and a good attitude.  Frankfurt saw everything in doom and gloom terms.  They had no real plan on how to cope.  Posnan seemed vibrant, people were out and about enjoying life.  Frankfurt was unsure; the streets and sidewalks seemed empty of people and energy.  It is a great lesson in the power of positive thinking.

Berlin, Germany’s capital city, has reinvented itself once again.  For centuries before WWII, Berlin was a beautiful baroque city of old Europe; in 1932 it became the capital of the Nazi regime; was bombed almost flat in 1945; was the front trench during the cold war; and now is the rebuilt capital of the reunited Germany.  All in seventy years!  Visiting Berlin and knowing the recent history of the city is a lesson on how history’s course changes in big ways, and that hope and freedom are always ready to spring forth when organized oppression, fascist or communist, is eliminated.

Hospitality and politeness were extended to us at all times everywhere we went.  There was no mistreatment of us because we were Americans, nor did we observe any anti-American sentiment.  Opposition to President Bush’s war in Iraq is another story.  The German people and their government strongly question Bush’s case for war, and the way he ignored the United Nations and made war anyway.  The death and destruction of World War II is still fresh on the minds of Germans of all ages.  Germany started World War II.  Today, the German people know better than anyone else that good, intelligent people can be convinced and misled by their own leaders to propagate war and destruction on other countries.  Today, the German people and their government are war’s biggest skeptics.

Travel abroad is a good way for us to learn about other people, countries, and cultures, and what we have in common.  Through travel I gain knowledge and friendships, and bring back observations and ideas to share in our community.  President Dwight Eisenhower once said “Understanding among people is a passport to peace.”  I hope we all can be more observant of what’s going on in the world outside of Kansas City, and to improve our lives and outlook on the world.