Trigger

This musing was sparked after CrimethInc.’s article Egypt Today, Tomorrow the World resonated with Telepolis’ article [DE] on the end of money. This all in a head that is currently located in Singapore, an interesting city-state in many regards as it is more business than a country and a place where I hear my neighbours saying things on the phone like “Come here. It’s good here. Everybody happy, everybody earning money. No protests… Hey, how are your stocks, man?”

Status Quo

Let us see a list of “recent” events and developments first:

• Riots in the middle east, a place with a long history. They are not the first riots, but some of the first riots that clearly benefit of the new broadcasting communication means.
• WikiLeaks scrapes on the surface of the facade called government showing some of the ugly inner workings behind. And with that I do not mean the released cables, but how governments have dealt with the whole issue by bullying corporations and people, torture and hypocrisy.
• Yes we can. A campaign of hope that resonated far across the globe. A campaign of hope that ironically turned into status quo by now, as can be seen in the dealings of the Obama administration with the two events mentioned before.
• Financial crisis. The melt-down which shook the rich part of the world more than it was comfortable with. An event that did not only show some of the weaknesses of the current dominant economical model, but also opened an opportunity window for a global power-shift
• Global Village. Globalisation and mobility has increased tremendously in the last decades. Some say the world is flattening, some say we all become one. Fact is, moving around and communicating is as fast and simple as never before. Countries hide their national interests better and pursue it on a regional and global scale.
• War on Terror. The last big lie told to the population in order to keep them under control and under close watch. The stick to the carrot of get-rich-and-famous.
• Climate Change and Peak Oil/Water/Planet. Maybe more a catalyst than a cause, this growing awareness might actually be the spark and also the solution to co-exist as one people.
• Political Agnosticism. Not all around the world but in most of the better-off countries voter numbers are receding and political activism is decreasing. The political leaders are mostly still baby-boomers and most of the population simply seems unhappy but has given up hope on change.
• Religious Agnosticism. It is not that people stopped believing into something. They still do, but people now have a choice and choose what they want to believe, some choose a religion, some choose something else. At the end there is less blind following of traditions.
• A content Generation X. For a large portion of Generation X and Y the childhood and upbringing was fairly prosperous (with discrepancies across the globe of course) and well-provided by their parents which led to a very content and non-rebellious generation. People would instead of rioting and rebelling openly rather focus on growing their wealth and advancing their career as they had learned.
• Equal rights. The notion of equal rights across gender, races, religion, orientation and other human characteristics has never been this broad globally. It gives hope to a final global understanding that all humans are one people.

Background

So what happened, how did we reach here is a big question, but there are a few stepping stones that are fairly obvious. If we look back before the beginning of civilisations humans were roaming or settled in groups probably organised in various forms: chieftains, democracy, anarchy, etc. These groups may have been big, but communication was essentially local. Through growth and communication between such groups the communication slowly spread further, which is why more administrative structure was required—just a matter of organisational logic. So while individuals at that time probably were still self-sufficient and self-organised, a certain belonging to a group increased chance of survival. Specialisation happened as civilisations developed and with that the administration grew. Religion was introduced as applied ethics and a means to control people as the legislature of the state (some few times as a segregated entity). At the same time literacy slowly spread through society often just as a need due to the wider spread of communication tools. New forms of government formed as a result of this literacy and organisation. This development has held true until today with a global illiteracy rate of around 20% and communication tools connecting people in the remotest places.

Discussion

This is what happened. Now here is how I would speculate why we are where we are and it builds on one premise: The ruling power wants to remain in power. Exceptions exist, but overall that is a trend that I think to observe.

Starting from there it is possible to assume that rulers would probably have chosen to not teach reading and writing to their subjugates if it would not have been necessary for the competitiveness of businesses, countries and other organisations. With literacy diminishing as a social barrier, money became a more important way to keep the masses at distance. Banking systems, taxes and other financial systems have become more and more advanced and finally became a fixed pillar in our societies. The industrial revolution started a boom of production. A flood of goods that could only be sustained if people buy and consume stuff. At that point markets were less global but eventually it fortified the flux of cheap resources from colonies and later developing countries to the rich countries, where people would consume more and more.

This cycle of consumerism has become so integrated into human society that the choice not to consume anything except groceries for three days would probably make the world economy collapse. To consume and aggregate things is a basic human trait, an ancient instinct of any being that is not sure when its next meal will be. Now over time the societies we live in have grown from a small tribe to cities, countries, regions and now to a tightly connected globe. This brought peace and more interdependence. Especially the peace appealed to the human need of security, which together with this unhindered consumerism has transformed Generation X and Y into sheeple in many places. We are happy to eat food, listen to music, meet friends, buy stuff and compare our comforts. A very calm time for many, why we stopped caring about politics and economy as long as we get our food and TV shows. And the ruling elite, as much as we may adore, despise or envy them for their riches and luxury has proven us to give us enough to be comfortable not to move our big bottom out of the couch. The number of people looking for happiness instead of money in middle class is interestingly high (I’d dare to argue more than half).

So what changed? We have become a little uncomfortable on that couch. Maybe because we think that climate change is not taken care of. Maybe because we find that we have been harassed enough for the sake of impossible protection from terror. Maybe because many of us are unemployed. Maybe because we have seen that the first and foremost interest of the ruling class is to remain in power and of the benefit of the planet and its inhabitants…

Questions

Where do we go from here? Are we as a people revolting and taking advantage of the fact that the world is flat now and that we can broadcast our message to everybody? Does this new technology called Internet, social networks finally take the leap from being a tool of consumerism and assume its role as a profound changer of society just like the printing press did? I sure hope it does, because its possibilities are rather sweet.

• Can we install a true global society? The trend surely seems to get us closer to one people and becoming brothers and sisters. There is still a long way to go but realising that we share not just the same genes and are all 70% water but also that we share the same resources might just help understanding that the community is more important than the individual
• Can we self-organise and self-govern? Lao-Tse says that the best leader walks behind the people and the best people are the ones where no laws are needed. The events in Egypt give hope that we may one day understand to act responsibly without laws, without centralised authority but instead out of education and insight and compassion.
• Will we be able to be without leaders> I would guess not as people who take initiative automatically become leaders, but maybe the communication will enable us to have different leaders on different topics. Leaders that are more connected to the people, leaders that interact directly and are approachable and leaders that may take use of world-wide polls. At the end, the ability to participate in governance strengthens one’s faith in it as Scandinavia and Switzerland show. If polls can be done electronically within one day, why cannot one day be a global poll day where people actually take a bit of time to vote on the grand plans?
• Will we be able to live without money? Hopefully yes. But realistically there will be some kind of system required, maybe something more virtual like karma. But if there are specialised professions (maybe there shall not be) that do not produce tangible products there will be virtual products be required for them to trade.

Is there a major change in the making. A change which we probably will not see complete by the en of our lives, but a change that will take centuries? Or is the world simply going to end on December 21, 2012 by a black hole created in the LHC? ;) What are your thoughts? Please share.

Friends of mine have sent me this appeal with the plea to spread the word and push for their cause. While I cannot do much more from here, I want to support them by spreading their words in solidarity.

a message from egypt
Um fine now, my bf got beaten up and a friend of mine was kidnapped by the police and we have no idea where he is!

The conditions here are very bad, they’ve shut down facebook and twitter and tumbler and bambuser, u can only check them on ur mobile now and soon we won’t even be able to do that. 4 protestors have been killed and hundreds are injured, the police is attacking the protestors using rubber bullets and tear gas and cold water and in some areas they are even firing real bullets. People are now being kidnapped from the street its almost like a curfew in cairo down town, any person walking on his feet is taken with no idea about the destination.

But we won’t stop, hopefully we will survive until the weekend and every egyptian will be in the street! Please help spread the word because news channels both on tv and on the internet are not getting the real picture, the pictures and videos that are airing are both old and not getting the honest full reality of how brutal the police is here. If you need to check things the most honest page right now both on facebook and twitter is RNN Rassdwehda.

Please share the news!

Love

That said, there are also other places to read up on what is going on in Egypt and the middle east: e.g. Global Voices or Al Jazeera

May peace, truth, openness and fairness prevail!

Lao-Tse says on the topic of leadership: “In order to lead people one must follow them.”

I find his saying true in many cases, but not always. I find it true in situations where the initiative comes from the people, where the goals are somewhat aligned and people do not feel clueless. Now, in situations where the flock does not know where to go, it needs a leader that leads the way. Thus the expression of “stepping up and taking the lead”. But, due to these circumstances it is that I feel more comfortable to lead by walking behind, and also find the result to be better.

Also, Ernest “Che” Guevara said something similar, conveyed in Soderbergh’s highly recommendable movie Che (semantic transcription):

The final strength is an army’s size multiplied with an unknown x. This x equals to the spirit of the troops and their desire to fight and confront danger. Men with the desire to fight and an understanding of why will put themselves into the most advantageous position and triumph no matter under who’s command or with what weapons the fight.

Understanding, what is going on and why one is doing what one does takes some experience, such as that of a good leader. But at the end, the leader can only plant a seed and try growing that into something that guides the people. That is why smaller groups are more efficient and more successful, when they share the goal and understand what they do. Smaller groups only need principles, because their actions are governed by understanding. Larger, uneducated groups however, need rules, because the complexity of the system supersedes their comprehension.

Now, what do we do with this dry pondering here, we can deduct a few things:

• Small, keen and understanding teams always outmanoeuvre large herds.
• If you lead a small team, lead as little as possible, remove obstacles for them.
• If you lead a big team you need to lead by example and you need a good codex until enough understanding has been created.
• Smaller groups are more likely to self-organise around their goal. People will do what is necessary to reach the goal. Large groups instead idle.

For me, this deducts into the fact that I prefer working in smaller teams, where one has to be very critical about every change in the staffing, but things will happen.

And yes, the tournament was a success. We had a lot of fun playing, I think everyone learned some things, we won the Spirit of the Game award and we managed to get two penniless youth coaches to come all the way to Singapore to play. I hope that motivated people to work further on the Indian Ultimate scene and grow the sport and its reach further into society and the Indian youth.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to honour or dishonour any of the notions connected to the term and the activities of guerrillas except of the self-organisation around a shared goal.

That’s what they say. That’s what they say in order to make it easier to start walking. But reality is different. The journey often started many years ago and the end of it is unknown. It’s one journey – one long journey. Of course one sometimes moves in laps and loops, sometimes crosses bridges, walks through forests and other mazes, but at the end one is walking; day by day.

Another fundamental principle of life is that one never knows how the other path would have been. This is big, and it’s something that makes life so much more colourful and interesting. Because at the end you only know what you have tried out. And only at the end you will know if you actually reach where you had planned to reach, or got carried away completely. Of course, along the way one crosses stretches, where the path ahead is rather clearly visible so that one can roughly gauge what to expect. Not that this needs to become true at any given time, but it’s the direction that one seems to move towards. But then of course again, every step one can choose to leave the path and walk somewhere else.

Now, why am I going on about paths and steps and directions here? Because I have finally moved (temporarily) to Singapore after almost two years in India in order to start the next leg in the journey. And the challenge is not only to decide where to go but as well to start walking.

Of course, if applying the logic from above about the alternative to be unknown, this dilemma can be solved rather easily: Take any path and start walking and you will reach somewhere. Simple and true. But my problem is that I do not like walking in circles because I hope my path to lead further, into unknown terrain. And also, one ideally wants to find a path that leads not just further, but has the right amount of difficulty and experiences along the way so that the energy one used to go on that path shall not be wasted excessively.

And for me, this decision is grand. Many people give the advice to just start walking and adjusting my direction over time, when getting further down along the way. I suspect this advice to be for people who simply do their laps walking on the same terrain for years and that are afraid of seeing new terrain. For me it feels different – of course one misses the comforts of familiar terrains sometimes – but the bigger fear is of heading down a way that doesn’t lead into the direction of my aspirations. So yes, it’s still a proof of me being a control freak. Even worse, a control freak with a general idea of where to head, but no precise criteria.

But then, at the end, there seems to be only one sane approach: Take the path that looks most promising, walk on it vigilantly, looking around for other possibilities, trust in this to lead somewhere and enjoy the scenery.

The theme that you see here is the result of this effort, it’s the first version, with quite some enhancements planned to be introduced at a due time. If you have feedback on the new look, please let me know. It also needs a nice name still. :)

Also, some people approached me saying that this blog is dead and that they’d like to read a little more. I hope that this change also encourages me to be a little less lazy, read more blogs again, write more and spend less time on twitter.

This, I guess can be seen as a milestone in the path, the start of a new chapter. My days in Chandigarh, India are soon over and I am looking for new opportunities, wherever they open up. Where this is, I have no idea right now, but as soon as things start falling into place I shall publicise them here.

Have a nice day.

I guess this should give a pretty decent account of what I have been up to. One could say that this year here has been a bit of a detox, even if I have been a lazy bum and gained weight moving away from the fit person I used to be. I do blame the weather and the lack of good sport facilities (no, a gym is not a sports facility) on that, besides of course my laziness. However, at the same time, this year has been transformative in many ways – especially spiritually and work experience wise. As long as these transformations are not complete it does not make sense for me to move, even if you’ll hear me complaining that “nothing’s happening” and things being boring. And, I have to admit that I never had expected to survive here for so long. One thing I definitely have learned being here in India: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

At this point I shall only still say dhanyavaad (thank you) to everybody who’s have been there for me facilitating this experience. Thanks for listening to my complaints, thanks for helping me to organise this or that, thanks for the time spent, the awesome food eaten and thanks for all the “envious comments” that kept reminding me that I am at a wicked place that so many people want to experience.

Thanks for mom for understanding and supporting! :) And thanks for the patience with my slow status updates. ;)

This post also appears on the official Opera India blog.

A rather frenzied search for a Bullet for him, we finally managed to find a suitable model (Standard 350, 2003 model) to join the ranks with my dear Dhanno (Standard 350, 1996 model). Literally at the last moment this was, as we also needed to get David some driving experience (he had already tons of co-driving experience) on Indian roads. The planned date for the eventual Leh-Ladakh expedition was set to be the weekend of September 4th.

One week before that we found his conveyance and I directly got him some mountain driving practice with Morni hills and Kalka/Kasauli, both in the vincinity of Chandigarh. Then, with little time left, we also completed the rest of the preparation, got the bikes checked multiple times, bought tools , spare parts and supplies. Finally, we had to postpone the start from Friday to Saturday in order to be able to get proper sleep and the bikes checked once again properly by a trustworthy mechanic, that we finally found. Then, Saturday, Sept. 5 at 07:00 we started from Chandigarh.

The route we had planned from Chandigarh:

1. Manali (via Ropnagar, Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu)
2. Darcha (via Rohtang, Keylong)
3. Pang (via Sarchu, Bara-lacha La)
4. Leh (via Tang-lang La, Upshi)
5. And then back via Srinangar, Jammu in 3 days

So far so good. The problem with this plan was – as we should find out in Leh – the return drive. I had checked the map and was aware that the drive back is quite a bit longer, but I forgot, that all the way to Jammu the road would be hilly at best, often still mountainous. Additionally it should not be possible to stay just wherever. So, as a result, we had to leave Leh pretty soon (we spent one day for fixing bikes and trying to find interesting souvenirs) so that we would also have some buffer time for the way back. Pity but also a reason to return with more time. ;)

So, the revised and recommended minimum track from Chandigarh:

1. Patni Top (via Ropnagar, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Jammu or even Ropnagar, Mandi, McLeod Ganj, Pathankot, Jammu)
2. Dras (via Srinagar)
3. Leh (via Kargil)
4. Resting day, fix the bike out of Leh on the road to Upshi
5. Pang – route incorrect (Upshi, Tang-lang La)
6. Darcha (via Bara-lacha La, Sarchu)
7. Manali (via Jispa, Keylong and Rohtang)
8. Chandigarh (via Kullu, Mandi, Bilaspur, Ropnagar)

Of course this is only a guidance. We had good and dry weather, that allowed us to advance in decent speed. The places listed as leg goals all seemed to provide decent housing and have suitable distances in between. Also, if you want to see Nubra Valley (with Khardung La, the world’s highest motorable pass) or Pangong Tso, you should reserve yourself two and one extra days respectively.

In terms of gear I also want to give a small overview of the most crucial items that we had to carry for later reference. One has to keep in mind that we had good weather (no rain except some drops) and temperatures were around 30?C during the day (in plains and mountains) and 0?C at night in the mountains. And of course it is assumed that the bike has been checked thoroughly before departure so it is problem-free.

Motorbike gear:

• side carriers: 2
• spare plastic petrol canister filled with 10l
• foot pump, one spare tube, tube valve and key, tyre irons
• 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 24 plus adjustable wrench for Bullet
• spark plug and wrench
• crew driver set
• pliers, hammer
• spare front, back and indicator bulb
• spare accelerator, break and clutch wires
• oil and rust dissolving spray
• chain lock and maybe spare chain
• screws and some steel wire
• ropes and bungee ropes (there can never be enough of those)

Clothing:

• sturdy, waterproof riding boots plus one pair of shoes for crossing creeks and other wet parts
• two pairs of trousers, ideally additionally one rain and waterproof one
• three raiding shirts (kurtas) with long sleeves, one waterproof jacket
• long, functional underwear, normal underwear, warm socks
• comfy but good (leather) gloves, bandana and face cloth – Buff’s are perfect, take warm and thin
• helmet, sun glasses, cap for when not wearing helmet
• shawl or decently warm cloth for additional warmth and comfort
• shorts and t-shirt for comfort

Other items:

• frisbee disk to play
• first aid kit
• camping cooker and some fuel, matches or lighter
• headlamp to flashlight
• sleeping bag (maybe)
• maps
• toothbrush, soap, two towels, deodorant, sun block, lip balm, moisturiser, etc.
• some food for when you do not come across any place for a long time
• any other camping gear: knife, compass, GPS, etc.
• camera
• cell phone (with BSNL, Airtel postpaid)
• waterproof plastic bags (also, cannot have enough of those
• spare water
• passport, driver’s license, bike keys, etc.

Depending on your packing, you should have a decently small luggage to carry, fitting well on the side carriers. Remember to pack everything in a water- and dust-proof way. Big potato bags were very useful for us in this regard to keep the smaller plastic bags together. Also, remember to dress in layers and have the commonly used things easily accessible. Amongst others that will be sun block, lip balm, jacket, snickers and maybe the rain gear. But anyways, during the trip you will figure this out.

So, that’s all for now, David has already put up his pictures and I will be nicking some from him and put them on Flickr soon. Hope you enjoyed this report and are now eager as well to ride to Leh, across the Alps, the Sahara, the Pampa or the Rocky Mountains. Either way, ride safe in harmony with nature and fellow traffic. Be nice and enjoy being in the world! And treat your bike well, just like you would your dear horse.

In terms of life not much news have happened. Chandigarh had become really hot and humid with temperatures up to 45ºC. Still, escapes to the hills have eased the sweat a little. During the time being also new people have moved in and out of the city – new interestring faces here and there. Friends have become married, engaged, started relationships and ended others. While it is clear that life has been rather eventful, I have been fairly stuck in the same work, eat and sleep rhythm. Work has brought new challenges with the responsibility of heading our development team of almost a dozen heads.

Maybe one of the most interesting experiences was to accept the challenge of a friend of mine to stay sugar (sucrose) free for the month of June. The idea behind the challenge was twofold: Improve your health and push your limits. On the first issue the benefits of limited sucrose intake are (according to my friend) a better sleep cycle, better skin and a calmer personality. If that’s not enough, I also wanted see how I can cope without the sweet bliss as I had suspected to be addicted to sugar for a long time now. So here I want to go through some of my observations related to that effort. But before that, a small overview on the rules. Natural sugar was allowed, most famous fructose (fruit) and lactose (milk), added sweetness and extra sugar was a no-no. As such, fruit juices or meals with sugar where it is not used for the sake of sweetness were allowed – most prominent would probably be bread or yoghurt. Also Coke Light and similar would have been allowed but I wanted to avoid that as well as to decrease my dependency on those drinks.

So the main strategy that worked for me was fresh fruits (water melon and mango), fruit juices and cheese. Cheese seemed to help me over most of the things because finding food without sugar is not easy in india, where even chips contain sugar. Same with drinks: As I already took a vow as not to drink alcohol, not having sugar essentially limited the choice onto water and lime soda (with or without salt). And water tastes very flavourful after drinking lime soda (observation #1). :D

Overall, the experience was that the abstinence was less hard than I thought – so no addiction there – but rather annoying as the amount of choices in restaurants was very limited. Yes, sometimes I would miss a kulfi (ice cream) in the evening and the cakes in the office (once almost accidentally licked my finger clean after cutting pieces for others…) but overall eating watermelons and mango did help a lot. The health effects for me seemed limited. I did not feel calmer – usually actually not even more tired – nor did I sleep shorter or get a better skin. But I observed mosquitos being less attracted by a probably less sweet smell.

The other main observation is how widely spread sugar is in our consumer goods. There is hardly any processed food available that has no sugar or artificial sweetener. I have no experience wit diabetes but I would imagine that it can become rather cumbersome to find things to eat and drink when even milk shakes are made with ice cream, bread use sugar for the yeast and potato chips have sugar for no obvious reason… Life without salt is known to be hard as we need the minerals when sweating, but life without sugar should be possible without more ado. Yes, north-indians are famous for their weet tooth, but is it really necessary to add sugar to mango shakes, orange juices and other sweet fruits. Juices made out of concentrate has always been a mystery to me. Well, I see the reason to make the concentrate in order to store it and transportation. But first removing all liquids to then stretch it afterwards with water again, what is the use in that? Why can most juice not be made straight from the fruits? Where is the problem that some packages taste different from others? Where is the problem if there are seasonal differences in the taste of packaged juices? Have we as humanity really reached a stage wehere we prefer the mass-produced, unified and quality-checked over the hand-made and natural?

Ok, enough ranting. What more was there to observe? Taste adapts. Yes, not really news for anybody. But interestingly different drinks now, after that experiment, work differently for me. I can still drink Gatorade or Sprite and other “artificial” drinks while I cannot drink juices like “Nimbooz” (7-Ups Indian lemonade) or Maaza (a mango drink). I suspect that my body is just used to certain drinks to taste artificially (the former ones) while expecting others to taste more natural (the latter ones) and then being disappointed when that is not the case. However, overall I could not observe my sense for flavour to change lastingly. Short-time changes however occurred list after drinking lime soda.

Finally, an observation about myself. Self-discipline seems just non-existent, which means that accomplishments happen due to external commitment and feeling for responsibility and pride. For years I have tried to get myself to try the early morning thing, or more sports or other changes like that. They never happen. However, I am sure if I make a bet that I’ll get up at 0600 every day for a month, I will be able to do that. Seems there is a hedonist wrapped in the peel of the feeling of pride – sounds like true Leo. :)

Happy summer everyone!

The other thing that makes me think is the change of context. Yesterday I was sitting in a bus that was in a bad traffic jam in Delhi’s outskirts with the driver almost participating in a fist fight because of a minor metal kiss of the bus and a lorry. Tomorrow I’ll be Gothenburg preparing with my team for Europe’s biggest tournament in an unimportant (well, from a global perspective compared to famine, disease, etc. – still, I would argue more valuable than soccer, hehe) hippie sport called Ultimate Frisbee. Now I sit a few thousand metres up in the air with some layers of steel below me, many feet of air and the snowy Caspian Sea in visible distance. Before it was the mountains of Afghanistan and the hills of Pakistan, the lush fields of Northern India…

Thinking again of that remote city I changed the car ordered by the transportation company to a bus for the airport. On the way we would take small roads through Punjab passing by huge trucks, Sardars on motorbikes (yeah, that’s how it should be) and people biking home at late night. Many of those have never been in an airplane, many have only seen them from a distance of several thousand metres, some have relatives in another continent. Some not knowing what to eat tomorrow. How can such differences co-exist directly next to each other, separated only by a few centimetres of air. Like the electrician who came to change the broken fuse late in the evening and me… how different and still so close. And then the peacefulness, openness, genuine friendliness and the shining eyes. In contrast, the business guy in the seat next to me, sleek and business-oriented, and carrying an aura of seriousness, importance and fatigue. Those eyes that I miss in Europe or at least hardly ever see. It makes me sad when I sit here and think about it.

Maybe it’s the result of reading Milan Kundera’s “Immortality”, a gift of a friend, that I really really enjoyed. It’s been long time that I had not read a novel. And this proved me that between Dan Browne and the like, there is quality literature also in the 20th (and hopefully 21st) century. Still, next on my list is the Dhammaprada and Krishnamurti’s diary…

But back to the initial tought. Many things have been racing through my head in these few hours sitting here. One is that I want to re-work this blog. Yes, a mundane and continuous plan, but still, some nice ideas. I want to be able to put up songs here, share inspiration.

Sharing inspiration is the main topic here. Seeing the Earth far down as a rather small thing makes me remember that globalisation should not mean that we produce in China, assemble in Korea, ship via Singapore and consume in France. Globalisation should mean (in times of the World Economic Forum in Davos), that we must understand that we sit in one world. A stratified world, but one world with only a certain amount of resources, breathing the same air and drinking the same water. Yes, if some farmers in India’s countryside commit suicide because their life is unsustainable, it does not affect people in Austria, maybe not even people in Chandigarh. But on a personal level it does, and in a long term it does as well. While I can admit a general fascination for global communism and self-sufficent communities, I must say that working on closing the gaps worldwide must be our generation’s top priority. The gaps between rich and poor, between literate and illiterate, between people with healthcare and without, the gap between nationalists and globalists.

My father asked me how I can be out in the world while things at home are not too well. He did not mean the economic dip that everybody in the west talks about and still I think that our consciousness cannot end at our garden walls. Therefore I realised that what really interests me (as for now) is to connect people. And no, making web browsers for people to access Facebook is not enough. I am thinking of connecting and interchanging people. I had the privilege to visit many places in the last months and see many different cultures making it clear that humans are humans everywhere. Not only that, people on the countryside worldwide seem closer to each other (yes, they may use different tools) than people within a country. How can we make people understand that with a grass-root approach? Our politicians are busy putting up barriers for each other, it’s for us individuals to start working on removing barriers in a meaningful way. Any ideas and proposals?