The World Is Becoming Crazier By The Day
As a native Hungarian who has been living in Germany almost 40 years I am always tempted, and therefore rightfully suspected, of feeling smug. When the 'authoritrian democrat' Victor Orbán was elected to power, my Mom told me:"If I had not left Hungary back in 1985 for good, I'd certainly do it now." When I talk to family or friends about Hungary, we actually mostly refer to it as 'Orbanistan'. Eventually, after almost 40 years in Germany, she left again for good, to enjoy her rent in -you will not have guessed it- Hungary.
These are crazy times and I can't shake the impression that the world is getting crazier by the day. The first time this occured to me was, when Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States of America; I remember feeling an odd surprise. (Actually, now thinking about it, 911 was more of a devastating paradigm shift and an even deeper shocking surprise. It was only dampened by my naive thought that it had been an extreme outlier and that things would eventually 'go back to normal'. History does not know 'normal'. I could have known. I should have known.) Most people I know thought that wasn't even in the realm of the possible. How wrong they were. A few months ago Trump was reelected and as a significant difference to his first election: this time it was not even a close call. Why? How did this happen? What are we all in for, when did not see this coming? These are some of the questions that are occupying my thoughts these days more frequently and I realized: obviously I don't have a clue what is going on in the world.
Genesis: Where Are You From?
As a former military officer your fist reaction, when you realize something is not working out the way you expeced it, is to check for your situational awareness. From a European's point of view the world looked pretty nice for the past 80 years. Yes, there have been terrible wrongs and unjust developments, like the Balkan War and other political and social disruptions. The cold war was also any European Democracy's kind of personal 'childhood trauma' - just listen to the brilliant -and even to this day frighteningly insightful- song 'Land of Confusion' from the band 'Genesis'. I think most people on earth got the memo.
However all in all the past 80 years could be described as rather peaceful and steady from an average European's point of view. Especially in comparison to any time before this has been the most peaceful time with the most tremendous technological, social and cultural innovations. Think of the personal computer and the internet (tech), of universal health care, free education, ubiquitous mobility for everyone (social) or music, movies, free travel. The list of achievements is long. One could ask, what your generation (I'm gen X) contributed or is about to contribute to these achievements. One could also ask, how people have benefitted in the bigger picture from my, my teams', my companies', my branches', of Germany's or Europe's contribution to society. I see more contrasts and often times cut-throat competition on the advance.
Situational Awareness: WTF is happening?
Reading the Economist or watching the news I often feel old. The last general Election in Germany prooved it as never before: As a society we are about to lose consent about the really important issues. I was ashamed and irritated that border control and immigration policy take such a large stage in German politics these days. At the same time you don't hear a lot of people talk about innovation, outright revolution or even reform of notoriously obsolete systems like the German education-, health- or the pension system. I don't want to tell my kids:"Listen, Mommy and Daddy screwed a lot of things up. We failed to improve or even keep up the absolute necessary infrastructure. Best thing you can do is to prepare to fix it yourselves or live with a downgrade in living standards. Don't expect any help or advice or anything from us. Alright, that's all. Mommy and Daddy will get back to squandering your future at the beach. Peace, bro."
Quo Vadis: Mind Your Step
We all need to take responsibility for our and our childrens' future. We all need to lead ourselves and each other into a brighter future. There is always hope. There is always something that you can do to make some diffenrence in someone's life. Or otherwise we all might end up earlier than later in the only one place that we were trying so desperately to leave behind forever and for all times: we all might end up in Orbanistan.
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