Rocking with Attitude

If the wall hadn't fallen in '89, it definitely would've fallen now. Ladies and gentlemen, we're rocking Berlin! It's only been 2 days since me and Konstantinos abandoned fundraising and started focusing on the course, but it feels like much longer. Like I argued in my last post, I believe that we're here to give people courses, not to raise money. While Plakor and Camille are fundraising, me and Kostas are visiting the universities.

So why are we rocking Berlin? Well, it just feels good. It's not that we have 30 registrations, but we're making all the right connections at the moment, which will pay off for sure. But what is so interesting about all this, is that it's taking no effort at all! Everything we did in the last 2 days just seemed to happen to us by accident. Of course there is no such thing as a coincidence, but I'm just emphasizing how easy everything went.

And with everything I really do mean everything. From the first moment we set foot inside the university we were guided from one place to another. Every person we talked to had some function to fulfill. The big difference with what we usually do, is that we usually go there trying to hand out as many flyers as possible and doing as many introtalks as possible, preferably to as many people as possible. In short; we're trying to reach as many people as possible, but in the proces we forget to actually connect to them.

How to connect? Simple; be genuinely interested in people and what they're doing. We actually went to this anti-racism class the other day in which the participants were discussing how they could stop the upcoming facist march which will take place in Dresden somewhere in februari. Of course my name wouldn't be Steven, if I wouldn't speak my opinion about what they're trying to do. It is unimportant for the point I'm making right now, but for the sake of the possibility that you might actually learn something from it, I will still shortly explain my views on anti-demonstration demonstrations.

To demonstrate against demonstrators; sounds a bit strange doesn't it. I would say, first off, I sincerely believe that everyone should have the right to be wrong. I'm not saying racism is wrong because I don't like to judge, I would say it's a state of consciousness, and a quite superficial one, but out of principle I wouldn't say it's wrong. But that's just me; I bet there's plenty of people who would say it's wrong, and that's fine too, but let others then have the right to be wrong! I asked them the difference between intolerance towards skin colour or sexuality, or intolerance against an idea; it's the same fucking thing. People then argued that this is different, because facism is a movement of which people become victims each year. True, but would an anti-movement not be the same thing? And would this movement not end up being violent? Of course it would; it's very naive to think that you would be any different from them, if you go down the same path.

I continued with telling them that if they want to show them to be tolerant, they should be tolerant themselves. And if they want them to be loving, then be loving yourself; be the change you want to see in the world, signed Gandhi, one of the biggest revolutionaries of all time. Anyone can go down the simple short-sighted path of intolerance and violence, but that's never going to solve anything. If you think you're a smart intellectual, then act like one; you know better than what you're doing.

People were shocked by my criticism, and they definitely did not agree, but I do think it shook them a little bit which is good; it makes people think and reflect. If you want to help people, you need to be ready to criticize; not being the nice guy who's afraid that you might hurt someone's feelings. No, you do what needs to be done. This is what is essentially means to be a tool of the divine. Now I'm not saying I perceive myself as such, although I do wish to fulfill that role one day, but during these 2 days I definitely felt a big force working around us. We're definitely not alone; we get support from all sides.

When the day is over and we leave the university, we feel really uplifted; not tired at all. The key to success is attitude. Rememeber it; attitude.