Go have a drink or two. But not too many. It’s still a school night.

And when you do, give a prayer of thanks for something that happened the day you were born.

Namely, this…

Of course, the Berlin Wall wouldn’t have come down but for the audacious demand of one great man and the effort he made to produce that miracle of freedom…

For those of us who were aware of the world around us during that time – in fact, in particular for those of us who were then about the age you are now – it was a glorious time.

We’d spent our childhood under the threat of Soviet imperialism and nuclear annihilation. We’d been told we had to make accomodation with the butchers and tyrants of Moscow, or else we’d all die. That great man who came along and told the butchers and tyrants to tear down that wall had been a madman. Reckless. The death of us all.

And suddenly, that conventional wisdom was no more. Suddenly, the world was a different place.

It was 21 years ago, the day you were born. And we watched the world wake up from history.