late night talks

when I was a kid one of my teachers once told my mom “I won’t start any discussions with your son anymore” – I was pretty talkative already back then and if I thought it was time to voice my opinion, I did so, coming form a family where most things were openly discussed. The other night we had dinner with Astrid’s relatives and as the conversation carried on we talked about the past elections, the swerve to the right our government took and possible consequences. When things went the way of “unemployed foreigners are the source of all our problems” I couldn’t hold it back anymore – it wasn’t a fight but it was a pretty sharp exchange of opinions. Just to put things into perspective Austria is still the seventh richest country in the world. We do have problems, but we are als coming up with solutions, some even in a better way than any other country I know – especially because of our small size and more maneuverable and manageable economy. When we left Astrid looked pretty torn, seeing her boyfriend and her stepfather handing it to each other – all I do was trying to explain her, that people, hundreds, thousands, millions have died to achieve what we are seeing as given: freedom of speech, democracy and what I still think of as a society that cares in one way or another. We care because there is simply no other way on this planet. It’s all we have and we either will save it together and one another or we will perish in its flames – I know it’s partly borrowed from JFK but his words have never felt more right then today. Because I care and I will always raise my voice when I think it needs to be heard.

I believe.