Tuesday 20. of January 2009

By: goat

As the World collectively holds its breath for the pending inauguration of Obama with hopes high that it will usher in a new era in the world, one with a little more humility towards humanity than experienced throughout the Bush years, I find myself trying to catch my breath for other reasons.  While we all hope beyond hope that there will be a change emanating from the top, the last nine days proved to me there is definitely hope emerging from a the base in a groundswell of feeling.

In terms of Global Politics, it has been a horrifying couple of weeks. Events in Gaza that left possibly the poorest part of the globe in ruins and over 1,300 dead while the World’s governments looked on in deafening silence while their people protested. Sustained political machinations in Zimbabwe continued to ignore the growing cholera crisis and deepening desperation of its people. Gas lines turned off in Russia and another political assassination of a prominent human rights Lawyer. Two US led wars on the go, and the United Nations Security Council not able to agree on the wording of a press release to announce there would not be a press release. A global economy doing a high diving performance with no pool in sight due to complete lack of regulation and a bunch of very greedy banking elite…

Yes, there is hope in the air with Obama about to take over the reigns, but I would not like to be him. If, and that is a question time will tell, he is the man to turn it all around… then he will definitely need our help. And a lot of it.

This week instead of looking into the future, I spent a week with my past. It was with five hundred young people from one hundred different nationalities who were all there for the love of snowboarding. Even though from different nationalities, different up environments, different colours, creeds and religions – everyone got on, no one fought and there was an immensely positive energy in the air. Maybe it is time we start look at what we have in common rather than why we are different… a quaint concept, no?

Over the weekend we visited the home of Nicolas Müller and interviewend him fort he up coming Breathe. We asked him where it was all going so wrong. He had a simple answer, but one I would like to share with you. He said, „We need to reconnect withourselves, to reconnect with our planet and all the people around us.“

Nic may sound to some as a little simplistic... but sometimes it’s the simple answers that work.  Nic may just be right…