European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns . Rosenthale time and again hypocrisy falsehood and self delusion catch up with us As individuals just As we had feared and known they would. But when it happens to us As nations we arc always surprised As if our collectivity gave us some magic immunity not granted to us in our separateness. A childish thought but nations never seem Able to outgrow it. For More than 40 years the Western nations once Allied in a War of survival against nazi Germany have said they were All for wiping out the separation Between East and West Germany. It was not True. The West did not want unification. It remembered what the last unified Germany had done. But the United Stales Britain and France believed it would never happen. They were sure the russians would not give up Power in East Germany. Why not gain favor with the germans by pretending that Only the soviet Union was against unification decade after decade unification was an accepted but never examined virtue. Almost no thought and less Public discussion went into what would happen if unification approached reality. How to guarantee the Borders of Germany a scarred and frightened neighbors before unification a not wait until afterwards to Sec if All German politicians agreed. How to weave some internationally responsible mechanism into German life to watch for revival of racial viciousness. So inevitably the germans came to consider that unification was just Germany a business. That too was a hypocritical falsehood. Germans know Hitler came to Power through the ballot. That turned out to be More than Germany a business a about 50 million lives More. Germany was not simply Defeated. It was also liberated from nazism. Both the defeat and the liberation it brought were paid for with Western and soviet lives. Without them Germany would have remained unified a under Hitler. That was everybody s business too. But Over the years the West with its automatic lip service to unification virtually abdicated its role in Germany a future. After East Germany a collapse the soviet government became too Busy trying to stay alive to stick to a coherent  Baker so Chancellor Helmut Kohl naturally enough jumped into the empty engine seat. Unification is becoming basically a Deal Between German and German. When i began writing about the dangers of the Rush toward unification it was considered distinctly unfashionable and terribly impolite. But a few people in government wrote me saying they were worried too. Bui now the nervousness is bubbling up too Strong to be hidden. The West is already crippled by fear of Germany. It moves with caution almost amounting to paralysis lest the germans get mad at us if we put ourselves on the a wrong Side of German aspirations. Familiar the very jargon of the bureaucrats who say they Are enthusiastic about immediate unification shows their fear. They talk of building a a Shields a Shields to insure Ger Many stays a a anchored by nato or to stave off the coming German soviet economic partnership. The poles Are so worried about their Borders that prime minister Tadeusz Mazo Piccki a Solidarity Leader says soviet troops should stay in Poland As Protection Bui what is the use of talking with unification so inevitable and near this the goal is not to Stop unification. It is to make sure that before during and after unification the needs and legitimate fears of German neighbors and victims Are met and heard. That cannot be done unless the truth is spoken to germans and to ourselves. Truth is Point a. The reason for fear a German nationalism and what it spawned a was not even mentioned publicly when president Bush and Kohl met. The German Chancellor did speak delicately of a a certain  what is needed desperately is for at least one Allied Leader to Start at Point a saying out loud that while we Are not against unification the germans do not have sole responsibility or interest. The a a certain history makes Germany a very special Case overriding even some niceties of sovereignty. Germans have the right to vote to decide their future a but must remember As they vote and after that their country is our business too and that we have a right to mind it and intend to exercise it. Once that is said and accepted maybe we can move to accept German unification not just with our bureaucratic Mouths but with our troubled souls. That is Point b. The new York times news service former smoker does slow Burn Over flying Many smokers Are threatening to quit flying. This is because of a new Law making it a crime to smoke on almost every commercial flight in the United states. I predict that while Many will try to quit flying few will succeed. A pity too because in Many ways flying is just As vicious and destructive As smoking. Still its hard to break the habit. I speak As one who has beaten both cigarettes and air travel. Its hard to say which sinks More tenacious Hooks into its victim or which is More destructive to Public health. Crusaders against tobacco for instance have had tremendous Success by talking about the evil health effects of a Sid Stream  that a the second hand smoke the nicotine fiend inflicts on his neighbors. Whether or not a Sid Stream smoke is As lethal As some people say in a sure that fear of the stuff is murder on the peace of mind of people breathing it. It can to be any More devastating to the Ace of mind of perfectly innocent people however than the incessant Roar of Jet engines taking off Over densely populated residential areas. Conducting a conversation even in such a High rent ghetto As Washington a Georgetown is almost impossible when air travellers Are taking off up the Potomac toward Chevy Chase. It took a Long time on the Washington new York shuttle before i realized that my habit was probably shortening the lives of thousands of innocent people in the elegant Georgetown real estate below. I had whipped the Nasty cigarette by that time and Laws Banning smoking on Short flights were protecting me from Sid Stream attack. Yet even As i sat strapped in my agonizingly tiny seat feeling splendidly healthy innocent human beings on the Georgetown ground below were being victimized by another evil habit a flying. The selfishness of it became apparent to me Only after i bought a House some 15 Miles from a runway occasionally used by the concorde. Every few Days this machine which someone has called a the father and Mother of noise a came through our Friendly neighbourhood sky with a violence that Shook the roof rattled the Forks right out of the dishwasher and brought me Rushing out of doors to see if the world was ending neither in ice nor fire but in engine Vibra Tion. That was the beginning of my Success in breaking the flying habit. I began examining my flight addiction As earlier i had examined my cigarette habit. In my smoking Days there was the Nightmare of discovering at 2 of clock in the morning that there Wasny to a cigarette left in the House and the nearest dealer could be reached Only by driving three Miles through a blizzard. Thank heaven id whipped that madness. But now what was this not a parking space anywhere at the Airport and the plane due to leave any moment. Wed been circling parking lots for what seemed like hours the car and i and the Only solution was to drive it two Miles to someplace identified As the a satellite parking  it was  was i doing this so i could get to the Gate and find the flight was six hours late. Or cancelled. By persevering i could attend something called Quot a conference where a crowd gloating about their Freedom from Side Stream smoke would stand around boast ing of parking spaces their cars occupied at Distant airports. To break the habit i read news of air plane disasters As zealously As i had once read the news about cigarettes cancer and heart disease. I buttressed this by seeking news stories of sweatshop Pilot labor of pilots sent into action with insufficient experience of pilots flying despite records of arrest Lor Drunken driving. As Reading the health news had helped me beat cigarettes Reading the aviation news soon crushed my enthusiasm Lor flight. As i had once discovered i could live happily without smoke i now discovered i could live just As happily without being disgorged three hours late into the horror or la Guardia or Logan or National airports at Rush hour. After that it was easy. If its really Worth getting there you can always drive or find a train and if you can its probably not Worth getting there. Habit the Washington Post writers group