the cold war.
My generation was told to hate the soviets, that the Russians were evil, and tricky, and hated us... but never really a good reason why.
Reading deep history books on WWII, and campaigns like MAXIMUM EFFORT, where US/RAF bombers and escorts would launch from the west, overfly Germany, wreck shop, and then land on Russian held territory to rearm and refuel, I learned a lot about how Americans interacted with Russians. When their airfields would come under attack, they would not allow the American airmen to risk their lives fighting back/fighting fires, etc. The Russian air defenses, and ground crews used themselves as shields, with their very lives, to protect our airmen, not just because they viewed us as 'valuable', being able to injure Germany in ways they could not, but that there was also a very real, human bond of friendship there.
Politics aside, when the shit hit the fan, we fought shoulder to shoulder. Politically perfect? Politically friendly? No. But humans, and good people nevertheless. Hardly the cold war demons I'd been raised to hate. Programmed to hate. Directed to hate.
Just people. Different, but people.
You can imagine the skepticism I view any claims going forward, of 'people who hate us', 'people who want to fight us', 'monsters' etc.
Yes, there are bad people out there, but The People are still humans. In often cases, just as misled about us, as we are about them.
The Iranians today, are no different than the Soviets of yesteryear. A people with a rich history, people who love their children, people living their lives, and *not* my enemy. We have political grievances, some very real, and very old, and very sore, but that's no reason to hate them or fear them. It just highlights the need to work together, to reach out.
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