today is the 50th anniversary of the soviet invasion of prague. horrible event that left its mark on prague for generations. it's very important, esp. in these times, to mark this event and not forget it. walked by wenceslas square on my way back from my dental cleaning this morning, large crowds, speeches, music ....
as noted by a czech boy who was thirteen at the time: “I still remember people going to the tanks and going to the soldiers, and talking to the soldiers who did not even know where they were, they were saying: ‘This is a terrible mistake. What are you doing here? Why did you come?’ ” he recalled. “We were young kids,” he added. “And like all of my other schoolmates, we were raised with this idea that the system might have problems, but that it was a humane system. This was drummed into us. After 1968, this all ended. We realized this was all lies.”