About

When I was 18, and fortunate enough to enjoy an international education at a United World College (UWC Adriatic) amid youths from 40+ countries, one friend called me ‘Menschenfreund’.

It is a fairly untranslatable German word, based on the Greek words φίλος phílos ‚Freund‘ and ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos ‚Mensch’. It is also the German translation of philanthropist; I am not, but try - on a good day - to be a philanthropist of spirit.

But thanks to the affinity for foreign languages and people bequeathed to my by my father, and the ability to grasp and learn quickly bequeathed to me by my mother, I get a fair amount of opportunities to come into contact with fellow people, their ideas, and their struggles.

And I have gained, thanks to my parents, my family, and my friends, an appreciation of who we are as homo sapiens, and what beauty, inspiration, and creativity we are capable of. Giving that some expression, sometimes, and sharing what is beautiful, inspiring, interesting, or debatable, about our world, by allowing words to speak, is one of the motivations behind this blog.

There are people who can paint, sculpt, dance, draw, sing, play music, perform. And there are those of us who are inspired by beauty, by events, by people, by ideas, to reach for a pen, in order to express our thoughts and sentiments. Maybe some of the words in this blog are an inspiration to some of you.

Goethe is reported to have said on his death bed: ‘more light'. I think we all deserve more light long before that moment comes.

PS: Thanks to my colleagues PJ and KB, without whom this would never have come alive.

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