Life is a Journey: Live it (Part 125)

The other autobiography
„I observe the youth of today is very much centred around the emptiness in them,“ came Susanne Fröhlich out to say. „We try to fill it by watching others performing on social media, which creates an online image of a human being...not the real one!“

Hans Wilder stepped in, saying with a twist of irony: “Are we real?“

Susanne Fröhlich defended herself and answered: “We are the image of being real!“

Tobis Wittmann was unable to restrain himself and added, “We have become mainstream characters.“

Susanne Frölich provoked her fellow students, asking: “We have become monsters in human flesh?“

„I know it is easier to judge everything in black and white, as complication is hard to explain and deal with,“ I interrupted the conversation, knowing where it would lead to. „My generation grew up with no electronic devices. We had to interact with each other directly far more than you people today do. When Eric Arthur Blair, popularly known as George Orwell, wrote his visionary novel 1984, readers either thought human life as we knew it would come to an end, while others saw in the novel a mere fantasy product of a confused mind. The world was not served to us on a silver platter; we had to create the world of our wishes and dreams with our bare hands and imagination. Of course, our parents educated us according to their values and beliefs, but the student revolution of 1968 demonstrated that the youth have the power and ambition to break free.“

Susanne Fröhlich asked a simple question: “Would today...such a revolution have been possible?“

„Fridays for Future movement seems to be an example which could be used to explain that the two movements are not the same, “I tried to make my point. „While the students' revolution was carried by individuals in their numbers, Friday for Future is a collective mainstream event carried by a few prominent individuals whom their followers worship. Out of confrontation comes direct answers to boost human societies. Technology has taken over the work of direct human confrontation, which used to be hard in words and sometimes hard in action. It seems to me technology to the development of the human race as it should progress has done more harm than good. The conditions for the human race overall have dramatically changed, which will affect their understanding and conclusion about their environment. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote about the environment which creates our reality, not our dreams and destiny, which creates our environment.“

Hans Wider was confused, asking: “I don`t get the meaning of your words, Sir. Can you please explain it a bit further?“

I thought for a moment how best to explain myself and replied: “I always stimulate my students to think independently, not to follow me without thinking over what I have lectured them. But let me say this, which might help you. As a child, I grew up literally in a very different environment. Now that the world is facing extreme heat waves, and in countries like Germany, banana trees in private gardens in winter don`t die, yet are unable to bear fruit in summer, the time will come when we in the moderate climate regions of the world will be able to grow crops that currently only countries in Africa can produce. Our scientists are working hard to find plants which can resist the heat and the cold in our region so that Africa will not have a serious problem in generations to come.

Imagine when I was a child, snow in winter was up to my waist, now as an adult, just over my knees. We had hard times pushing through the snow to walk freely to the nearest train station. We were sliding down little hills in Hamburg Stadtpark, having fun, laughter and smiles on our faces. I recall one serious winter in Schleswig-Holstein where villages and small cities were cut off by heavy snowfall from the rest of Germany. Army helicopters were used to bring food to the people hiding in their houses for help. Medication was brought to them through an air bridge with helicopter after helicopter. One month later, the delivery rate skyrocketed, and so many babies were born. After all...TV was cut off, and people went back to basics. Nature in its rawest form was part of life.

Advanced technology and lifestyle have changed all that. My generation, by lack of technology and means, had to look into our individual contributions and talents. We had to create out of shit a golden future. The generation before us was in a much worse situation. They had less to go buy, facing the consequences of World War II, but were able to create a Wirtschaftswunder in just fifteen years.“

„Did not President John Dramani Mahama mention something like that recently...from Ghana?“ asked Tobias Wittmann.

„Yes, he did,“ I confirmed, having seen a post on Facebook. „He mentioned that countries rich today started with barely anything, especially no mineral resources. The President referred to the mindset which is needed to make it in life as individuals and a nation.“

„When I imagine Ghana...I mean, I was never there,“ said Frieda Schöngruber and ate her last roasted marshmallow for the night, “it looks to me like a patchy old dress, not like a fashionable dress.“

„That is a very good picture,“ I agreed and formed her ideas into words, “and so true. Coming out of colonialism, the visionary leader Dr Kwame Nkrumah had a vision for the country and Africa as a whole...but no plan was laid out in detail. When a season is over, or better, just before the designer starts thinking about the new season. He goes to the drawing board, and after sketches and sketches, he tries the new dress on the body of a model. When he is satisfied, this new dress for the new season is the right one, reflecting the new motto in which the ladies buying his clothes should believe in for the coming season. He takes it out onto the catwalk for all to see and be part of the new season and journey.

That is what Dr Kwame Nkrumah forgot to do. To proclaim the future is one thing, to write a memorandum is another thing, but to work on it like a fashion designer is what he forgot to do. All his successors eventually followed his pattern more or less. Various Ghanaian Presidents have not created a new dress for the new season, as this requires vision, prioritisation, and communication to get people involved. Let me explain this very simply. The identity of Ghana is not oil and gas, or gold and bauxite...but the new dress is called chocolate. That is the new season's theme, but it was missed completely. At the top of the agenda for any Ghanaian administration, cocoa as the identity of Ghana...and nothing else...must be the focal point. When you start to design a dress, you start at the top and go down via the middle to the bottom, adding features here and there. The centre of it must be something like a Chocolate City, Chocolate Parade, Chocolate Trail, World Chocolatier Championship and much more. When you put this in the heart of your activities and take your people with you, the country will be dressed in new clothes and feel proud of itself. So much creativity will be set free, reaching out into other sectors of society and the economy. A new dress which fits a person perfectly well boosts confidence, the joy of life and makes a person so, so creative and productive. What Ghana is doing instead is to use the old, broken dress left behind by its colonial masters and do a bit of patchwork here and there with no clear focus on its strengths and abilities. It almost looks like a country that, like a certain beetle, lies helplessly on its back, struggling to turn itself upright again to move forward. When all minerals of Ghana are exploited and found on the surface in products with limited recycling times, Ghana will be in trouble. I am telling you. But...but...“

„When they are wise and have well focused on their core mandate and strength...the little beautiful cocoa bean...these trees will never leave them,“ Hans Wider said and smiled while his heart was filled with wisdom.

„They can use it again and again as the textile a fashion designer uses to create his latest fashion for the new season,“ were my last words before we finally had to return to our hostel for the night.