After a long day in the office, I walked briskly Tuesday evening into the bright lights of a grocery store and was delighted to find tangerines in the produce section.

I look for tangerines to eat during the winter in the same manner I once browsed stores for candy when I was 12.

I grew up in a small town where you could walk through the tree-lined neighborhood streets for a quick sweet tooth fix or plunk down a couple of dollars for the latest “45” music record.

These days young people see the words “45” and think you are talking about a type of gun. This is a sad commentary on the cynical, unsafe world we live in today.

Living in a free country gives us many reasons to be thankful.

We do not have to worry about being accosted by a gun-toting soldier because we crossed a street in the wrong place. There are no empty-looking stores with limited selections and imitation versions of good food and drink.

My dad took our family for a year’s sabbatical in 1983 while he did science research as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. I attended fifth grade in a German middle school and came home fluent in the German language.

Germany was separated into two parts, East and West Germany.

Our family stayed in West Germany in a university town called Goettingen (pronounced Gerting - gun). During the spring, we gathered with other American families for a Fulbright meeting in Berlin.

One of the activities involved crossing the Berlin Wall for a day trip to visit East Berlin.

The Berlin Wall was the physical barrier separating West Berlin from East Germany, including East Berlin from 1961-1989. The wall came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between western Europe and the eastern bloc ruled by the Soviet Union.

My memories of touring East Berlin involve a desolate gloom in the city. There were no smiles on the faces of people and no idle conversation on the sidewalks.

The streets were largely empty even in the midst of a normal business day.

There were little choices in the food, clothing, cars and the type of housing available.

While time has dulled my memories, I will never forget my one and only experience with ordering a Coca-Cola in East Berlin. I ordered the soft drink when our tour group stopped in a snack stand at the Monument to Brotherhood between the Soviets and the East Germans.

A snack shop waitress silently handed over a darkcolored mixture of sugar and caramel water which tasted like dirt. My brother and I called it “Commie Cola” because of how awful it tasted.

This story has a happy ending which carries far more weight on human history than drinking a “flat” coke.

The Berlin Wall came down on Nov. 9, 1989, when East Germany residents were allowed to begin visiting their neighbors in West Berlin and West Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for the reunification of Germany.

Americans watched the scenes of German residents dancing and chipping away pieces of the wall for souvenirs

live on television. I remember sitting in the living room at home in Clemson watching the broadcast with my parents as one of the most significant events in 20th century world history unfolded before our eyes.

I returned to Berlin in 1992 while spending six weeks traveling around Europe with a friend from Great Britain. It was a surreal experience being able to pass through the Brandenburg Gate in the former East Berlin area and enjoy the freedom which came at such a high cost for so many people.

Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this year. This will conclude with a three-day “Festival of Freedom” at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin next month.

I am sure much progress has been made in addressing the economic disparity and social problems which continue between the former East and West Germany.

It is worth noting the Nobel Prize in Literature this year was awarded to a German-speaking Rumanian author named Herta Mueller. A Wall Street Journal article states her books “create an atmosphere of suspicion that becomes increasingly intense.”

“The Passport,” “The Land of Green Plums” and “The Appointment” are translated titles by Mueller presently available in English.

My wish is our world will become truly unified in all areas so future generations will not have to experience the type of tyranny found in East Germany following World War II.

Scott Powell (spowell@gaffneyledger.com) covers education issues for The Gaffney Ledger.