Flames

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At 9 o'clock this morning we all got on a train at the Hauptbahnhof that was headed for Köln (Cologne) Upon arriving in Köln the first thing one notices is the massive, gothic, 157 meter tall Cathedral. After that it's pretty much impossible to notice anything else. I never could have imagined a building more majestic than that. We climbed to the top of one of the spires. The brocures clamied that there were 509 steps. I don't doubt this one bit. Dennis and Nick felt compled to count for themselves...out loud...much to my dismay. I think it was around the 236th step that I decided I was totally intolerant of their counting aloud and seriously considered shoving both of them out of one of the several slit-type windows. There was only one staircase and it was very narrow, so those going up and those going down had to fight to the death for 3 inches of space. The staircase spireled nearly all theway to the top, but I could not tell you how many times becuase it felt like it was just walking around in a circle repeatedly with great big lead coffee tables strapped to each leg. Everything that I went through though, was completely worth it in the end. There was a path that circled the outside of the spire and it was protected by a metal cage. Without the cage it would have felt like I was a gargoyle scaling the walls of the cathedral. I don't think I have to tell you that the view was incredible because being 157 meters in the air something like that would just be assumed.

Next came the Gustapo headquarters. I've done a mild amount of research on World War II and the Holocaust, but the inner workings of the Gustapo seemed to have escaped my attention until today. It was emotionally exhausting to listen to all of the accounts told by our tour guide. One hears about things like that and usually doesn't think on the subject for very long, but when surrounded in the actual setting, seeing what they saw nearly exactly as it had always been, things seem to hit a lot harder. I like to consider myself to be sympathetic towards world tragedies. It's easy to stare at the television, say "My God, that's awful." then turn around, pick up your fork, and continue eating supper. However, actually dwelling on the event and trying as hard as you can to understand how they feel is not easy in any sense. This of course is not for the purpose of placing myself into a state of depression. That is not my intention and I would never ask this of anyone else because it certainly is a great emotional burden. When I think deeply on unfortunate occurances happening now or that have happened in the past it is to the effect of conquering our desensitising media. Everyone is numb unless extreme factors have caused them to be otherwise. The daily amount of horror we witness on the news acts as anesthesia. The constant pain we wintess stops being real after so much of it has been forced down our throats. Yes, it's depressing to let your mind linger on unfortunate events and no, in reality this lingering will probably never contribute any real effort towards the betterment of any catastrophy, but it greatly aids in development of character. Just as we feel pain while being burnt so must we feel pain when others are facing turmoil. The pain is there to warn us, withough the pain would would all just be a senseless mass of media infused flames.

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