Opinion: Whatever happened to our enemies of 25 years ago

Can we speak about our former enemies and talk to them, or shall we keep the distance, ignore and insist that they are not worth our attention? I’ve concluded the following: if we are scared of something, we tend to pretend that it simply does not exist. If we are able to look into the eyes of the former enemy, it means that today we are ready to stand up to them again and defend our beliefs.