Gorbachev dies. So I remember my childhood years.

One of the most prominent and recognizable figures of the 20th century is gone. I know that most people in Russia criticize him heavily — loathe actually — for destroying the Soviet Union, or not keeping it together. It doesn’t matter how you frame it.

I was just a child growing up in Soviet Moscow. My parents were young and “liberal” so they were always warm to the changes of Gorbachev’s era and ultimately the collapse of the Soviet state. Whatever values and views my parents had — of course I had them. So for me, Gorbachev is about bringing…