Independent Reading Post 5

Prompt:
Chapters: 9 & 10

"At all events, this relaxed and genial air was something that I hadn't associated with Germans before, at least not those aged over twenty-five. There was no whiff of arrogance here, just a quiet confidence, which was clearly justified by the material wealth around them. Those little doubts we've all had about the wisdom of letting the Germans become the masters of Europe evaporated in the Hamburg sunshine...I don't think I can altogether forgive the Germans their past, not as long as I can wonder if that friendly old waiter who brings me my coffee might once have spent his youth bayoneting babies or herding Jews into gas ovens. Some things are so monstrous as to be unpardonable. But I don't see how anyone could go to Germany now and believe for a moment that that could ever happen again. The Germans are becoming the new Americans-rich, ambitious, hardworking, health-conscious, sure of their place in the world." (page 100)

The way that Bryson just realized that the Germans are not like the way they were in the 1940s is moving because he came to a realization that made him think about the changing times. While he states that he may never be able to forgive the Germans for what they did, which most people wouldn't be able to do anyway, he does realize that it will never happen again. Her connects the Germans to the Americans which in itself is a way of forgiving them and pardoning them because he is seeing them in a new light. The way that Bryson described his realization is moving because anytime anyone can see the better in something or someone it is inspirational.