We live in a time of change. This makes it all the more important to find new solutions for new problems, and to develop new ideas for new situations.
That’s why we need the creatives, the square pegs, the dreamers, the engaged ones, the people who are willing to use their brains and to engage with new things – the people who are just a bit different.
But new things, change, and challenge are uncomfortable. And people who are willing to engage with it are all too often ridiculed, ignored or even attacked. I think that we, our society as a whole, can no longer afford that.
At the same time, it really upsets me to see how many of us suppress these important parts of their personality.
We tend to stick to the beaten path (or whatever we think that is). We don’t dare to start something new, being afraid of our financial security. We engage, but rarely with all of our heart and our might, because there simply isn’t enough energy left for that in our everyday lives. We’ve got ideas, but lack the time or the courage to implement them.
And still… it’s up to all of us to change these things.
To create a climate in which new ideas and the willingness to change are welcome, and not a disctraction. To welcome mistakes as a very normal part of the process. To accept others just because they are different, or think different. And to support the people who engange and who try, even if they break the unwritten rules.
My vision
I’m dreaming of a world which doesn’t honour the calculable, predictable output (because let’s face it: sooner or later, this output will be produced by a machine anyway), but the human contribution…
… the heart and soul in a thing well done. No matter if that’s a thoroughly and attentively swept road, or the breakthrough to a Nobel prize-worthy discovery.
… the love and empathy invested into the work with other people. No matter if that’s the extra squeeze of the hand in a nursing home, or a well thought-out draft bill which will strengthen the whole of society.
… the creativity and ideas with which humans find solutions for new problems. No matter if that’s a big, bold new vision and life-changing technical inventions, or a small change in family life by which a mom or dad helps their kid through a difficult time.
… the engagement of all the people who change the world for the better – for all of us. No matter if that’s a big aid effort after a natural disaster, or the elderly person who cleans the sideway of garbage on his way to the bakery each morning.
… the being different and the daring to dream by which individuals change the world for all of us.
All of these things are worth infinitely more than the focus on the accountable, the calculable, the predictable, the riskless, the ever-the-same which still dominates in so many areas of life.
That’s why I’m dreaming of a world which values these contributions higher than following the rules, checking off the routines and sticking to „we’ve always done it that way“… of a world which focuses on humans and on all the good things we can achieve together, if only we dare.
Do you dare to dream with me?