Tag: great country

Believe what I believe, or I will kill you


I am not sure if you have been following the court case of Mr Breivik in Norway you killed a total of 77 people because they were endangering his country’s mono culture.  If not, you should because there are many different people and organizations worldwide that think, feel and act similarly.  Though it could be argued that the person in question may be insane enough such that he will spend the rest of his life in a closed psychiatry facility, the jury is literally still out on that.  Where is the fine thin line between sanity and insanity?  Where the even thinner line that separates how much radicalism is too much?  The answer should be that no one should cause anyone any physical or psychological harm.  Yet, the harsh weekly reality has been that there are many people who crossed the line all the way. 

How many folks have you encountered that hold very radical views and try imposing them on you and the folks around them?  It makes me wonder often how many of them would be capable of snapping and doing harm based merely on different beliefs and core values.  If you are like most of us, we tend to ignore and avoid people like this and that partially explains why some perpetrators are not caught well in time before anything dramatic happens.  Recent shootings here in the States, hate crimes in Germany and France unfortunately seems to prove me correct on this. 

Really upsetting is when religious groups follow a path of radicalism.  I do not care what denomination you follow, but you had better allow for tolerance, temperance, empathy, compassion to never permit you hurting others when you practice your own beliefs.   Humans have a long history of struggling with affording people with different beliefs their own freedom.  Just think back to the times of the medieval crusades and then later the time period of the Inquisition and also of course Hitler’s and Stalin’s terror.  Any time that dogmatic views come in sight, misery follows for another fraction of humans.  In part we our country owes this phenomenon part of its existence and have afforded us with the beautiful multi cultural society of today. 

This is a mere request to ponder what your tolerance level is for radical people and getting actively involved when they cross the line and start bullying others.  Prevention is the key to avoiding major regrets and excuses later – for you and society. 

Ralf

What motivates you to go to work every day?


If you can trust recent polls that I have read about online, over 80% (that is eighty percent!) of the workforce is unhappy about their workplace and career. What keeps you motivated to go to work then?  One faction surely will assert it is the money that they need to sustain themselves while others cling to the hope of their situation somehow and sometime getting better.  Well, it is time to either put up or to shut up.  Yes, I seem to have a harsh view on this subject.  Life is too great and to rich with opportunities to put up with situations that you do not like or enjoy.  Toxic bosses and working environments are nothing anyone should be subject to. 

You might say that no one can just change jobs or careers this easy.  That is a lot of people after all.  Be that as it may, I am not talking about people, I am talking about YOU.  You are the only one who can ponder your life’s journey and whether or not you are living on purpose.  Once you realize what your passion and calling is then you can and should go for it.  If you have any critical thinking and self-awareness then this knowledge will nag at you enough to finally make a change. 

You are lucky.  You live in a country where there is more support than in any other country that I know.  People are going to come and be by your side once you have asserted where you would like to go and what you would like to reach.  Do not take my word for it.  This is the foundation for many top self-help gurus and how they have been able to make it.  The only difference between them and you is that they took the first step and did something about their nagging conscience. 

Ralf

“Americans have no culture” – nonsense!


 

Our flag in front of our house

From time to time I hear people around me drop the above line about how we Americans do not have a culture.  To be honest, it upsets me a bit because nothing could be further from the truth.  We have a culture of inclusion, tolerance and collaboration.  I totally get how folks conclude that we do not have a universally and internationally acknowledged single cultural attribute since we have so many cultures coexist here.  This natural coexistence though is part of our cultural signature that makes us unique in the world. 

I can give you one of many personal examples for this.  When I first set foot into the country I knew no one.  This was a work transfer from our German headquarters to now working for the United States subsidiary.  The receptionist had a friend – a divorced lady who rented me one room of her town home.  It happened to be November of 1989 and Thanksgiving was just around the corner.  She invited me to join her and her family to enjoy the holiday together.  My interest was piqued and you cannot imagine how big my eyes got when all the relatives showed up and the food trays kept on coming.  Sharing this meal together with them changed me profoundly:  Here I was sitting next to folks who treated me equally as if I had been one of their own.  Better yet, they were asking me about my heritage and everybody was quite enthused to learn that I had come from Germany.  One even commented how we had redeemed ourselves after the war.  Wow!  Me, the former enemy right in their middle and I am sure they had lost relatives in one or both of the big wars and they were treating me like royalty.  You have to realize that this positive outlook on Germans had not been the norm when Germans traveled to certain regions of Europe.  I can still recall a few occasions when some folks turned away from me once they got the drift where I was from.  Up to the early 90’s there were still hard feeling left over. 

Here we do make the effort to include all people and their values in one way, shape or form.  I have not visited or lived in any other country where this multicultural approach gets practiced.  This is our culture and surely something to be proud of.  Do not get me wrong, I am proud of my German heritage and who I am I have to thank Germany, my family and my education.  Who I can be though I owe to this country and that is why I applied and received my American citizenship.  Think about what kind of freedom and opportunities we have here – the difference lies with you and you only. 

Ralf