Let us stop for a moment and throw a glance back over our shoulder onto the last twelve months with some thoughts for a better future.

A lot has happened in the course of this past year, things that make us sick and tired like politics and events in communities worldwide, a war raging not far away from our coasts, yet others make us hope again by initiatives that work against the brutal impact of human weaknesses on society, simply because they have a vision of a better world.

However, what is a better world? The opinions about that vary considerably. First of all… no wars… but that would implicate:  no weapons, no manufacturers of weapons, no strong and weak countries, no racism….but how to get there?  There is no way so far because there is no common level of prerequisites, and to grant or create the same rights for everybody is therefore not feasible. Any form of socialism will end with those who work and those that expect to be fed. There is an idea circulating in the heads of the German social politicians to create a basic salary for everyone….where will that lead to, I am asking you? The one who loves working will reduce his efforts because he is not stupid,  and the other who thinks that the State is a sort of a milk cow will stop working all together, why should he bother, he can make do with what one gets anyway?

Education, it would seem, is the only form, to grant everybody the same preconditions but the forms of educations should aim at improving human values, the perceptibility of the individual, the sharpening of senses, the need to teach responsibility within society, towards environment and the whole world, teaching visions of understanding and acting globally for the good of all. Education should aim at suppressing the killing instinct in us, the wish to outdo others; I am not for the ideas of socialism to share my wealth with others, no, I am for caring, to stop when you see somebody weaker and give him a helping hand, include others in taking responsibilities. However, first of all we need to learn how to be good to each other, to learn how to care sensibly.

That would mean to have good teachers, no,  excellent teachers, they play the most important role in society apart from the parents; it is not only to teach their specialty but to teach humanity in the positive meaning of the word. Again that is not easy as every child has a personal background and that forms its attitude towards society, therefore, parents…when they become parents should not only learn the technical details of birth but they should be taught how to be good responsible parents. A child growing up copies the grownups, with its first words, first steps and first knowledge about things; and the child thus prepared is delivered into the hands of a teacher; it is not easy for a well-meaning teacher to fight the shadows of a poor family background or… of traditions. 

A young person has the best chance to face the world and make the best of it when he/she is morally well prepared. So far, as we all have been able to recognize, we all learn late in our lives, have to make bitter experiences first, until we know what life is all about.

We should always give our best in whatever we do, not for the sake of money, not for the sake of public recognition but for the sake of ourselves because in fact we know when we have done our best and…there is this feeling when you look into the mirror and just talk to yourself: I have done it well. That is the highest satisfaction one can reach: to correspond or to be on the way to one’s own high expectations. I mean that people who come into leading positions should always be aware of that and should put their own interests behind that mirror and act in accordance with the high moral values of their job. Leading qualities require a strict pattern of morals, of humbleness and willingness to serve as an example and to serve society.

In any case, we should all adapt to this pattern because we are all serving society and not lean back in our armchairs and shake our heads wisely about the atrocities and stupidities of the world managers and politicians. The world goes on where our vision ends… because the world is round and not flat like a plate. We must stop playing with the world; life is not a game of fun.