Reed Klein Blog 3

 Reed Klein Blog Post 3

Something that has been ever-present in International Politics that I find may be creeping into our world again, is the unfortunate raising of an Iron Curtain in Europe for a second time in the past century. The term coined by Winston Churchill was used to indicate the cutoff between the communist and non-communist sections of Europe that crossed from Germany and much of central Europe. To me, this implementation is one of the saddest parts of the cold war, as we saw families separated by nationality by no fault of their own, many families were never reunited and the ones that did were never the same. We may not think that a decade or two is a long time, but for a family that is so many milestones whether it be birthdays, weddings, pregnancies that families do not get to spend together by no fault of their own. Why do I bring this up you may be asking, and I have an answer. I fear another Iron Curtain will soon descend across continental Europe, but my perspective on why this is so awful is something reflected in my hobbies. I love watching sports and one of my favorites is Ice Hockey. At past Winter Olympic Games, the Russian national team is often one of the best and many of its top players play in huge sports leagues like the NHL in the United States. My fear with the situation going on is that if an Iron Curtain descends upon Europe again is that top players from Eastern Europe may not be able to compete in significant tournaments and leagues. If this were to happen that means there will always be caveats to victory, what if these players from Russia and Ukraine were in attendance, would that have swayed the victor, would it have caused other teams to play better/worse, a whole boatload of possibilities that could tarnish something I and millions of others care about deeply. Some may say it is selfish to think about how a game that in the grand scheme of the world means very little, but this is where I would disagree. Hobbies like sports are things that improve many people's lives. these are some of the only things that most people generally agree on and enjoy watching and playing together regardless of their politics. It is with this that I believe a world where some but not all will be unable to compete and enjoy with the rest of the world would be a damn tragedy. Sports especially are so powerful at bringing people together, when the New York Yankees played their first home game following the 9/11 terrorist attacks there was nothing more uniting than seeing President George Bush bridge the gap between politics and sports by throwing out the first pitch, a signal that America remained United despite the tragedies endure, and that is why we must do everything we can to prevent another iron curtain from ruining the world we all know and love. While we may feel helpless as individuals, all of us combined can make a real difference.