Geez, it's been that long since it fell.
I agree, I was 18 when the wall came down so it seemed like a permanent fixture. The Cold War seemed like it was permanent as well. I remember being assigned the article "The End of History?" by Francis Fukuyama in high school and we had a debate about what was coming next. No one predicted what actually unfolded.
It's been a while but the students were generally more optimistic than our teacher. He said war and conflict are part of human nature so it would continue in some form. I remember that we looked around the globe to see who might emerge as a new rival to the US. The USSR was not dead so there was some thought about China replacing the Soviet Union as a new communist leader or a new Sino-Soviet alliance. The teacher mentioned the possibility of more regional conflicts. I think a lot of us naively thought that the rest of the world would just "convert to democracy" as if it was that easy. No one mentioned Islamic fundamentalism. I had no understanding of Islam and did not think of religious conflict as a potential issue. At that time, I had thought about going into the military and that no longer seemed an option. I didn't think it would be necessary anymore. The world seemed to be divided into two camps for my entire life so it was hard to think in different terms.
Does the world still look two-camp to you? EDIT: Allow me to rephrase the question. Does the world still seem similarly divided? How do you feel about places that haven't "converted to democracy"?
No I don't think now that it was that simple back then or now. There were lots of non-democracies that were pro-American. That was just the perception of a teenager in the midst of the Cold War.
Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your story. I'd be delighted to hear more of what you have to say.