How scary is it living with a mutual border with Russia? Is it just a minor thing? Is it something you think about often?
In the 50s and 60s a nuclear exchange with Russia always seemed a possibility. It wasn't in the front of my consciousness but I certainly thought about it some.
Oh, that's a great question.
And I'm not afraid of the Russian neighbor.
I'm currently much more afraid of the US president.
You see, in my opinion the Russian president Mr Putin has kept on that target of a power hungry lion.
They've been a bad boy and keep on being it, you know you can trust it.
But Russia as a neighbor, they absolutely love us, the Finland neighbors.
When the Soviet Union fell, some people from Russia begun to buy businesses and summer cottages here in Finland.
And a lot of Russians come spend their holidays in Finland, as well.
You see, Finland welcomes everybody to visit or come live in here.
And the Russians see this as the friendly neighbor who is close to Russia and offers a western culture with safe environments.
I even know that the Russians make the biggest foreign minority in the country.
In fact, I know that my 6 year old twins have a Russian boy in the same group.
We saw each other on the beach 2 days ago.