Recently, while flipping through old photo albums.
Summer 2000. A university campus in Beijing. Late afternoon, 30+ degrees Celsius. I had come there with a friend to talk with students from all over the world about our future. They had called it "Future Forum 2000". The internet was still young, but it had already caused its first burst market bubble. Still, the spirit back then: optimistic. Curious about each other. That feeling that nothing could really stop us.
For the first time in my life, the idea of the “global village” felt real.
In the photo: young people from China, Poland, Lebanon and Germany. And more people from many more countries around us. We had just come back from the cafeteria when we realized the gate to the
dormitory had been locked. But hey, a metal fence certainly isn't a serious obstacle, is it? Together, we bent it open just enough for the whole group to squeeze through. Easy.
Sometimes I wonder what that generation, my generation, has achieved a quarter century later. Have we found our role now that, statistically speaking, our influence on politics and society is
greater than ever?
How much of that courage is still there? That fearlessness. Maybe even that naïve belief that we could do things better.
Are we still able to bring people together despite their differences, despite the prejudice, despite the unknown, instead of retreating into the comfort of our own bubbles? At least, we've
learned that it is possible.
Will we overcome the technologies and mechanisms that fuel division and confrontation? Will we learn to expose those who constantly push us back into tribal thinking and profit from keeping the
world divided?
In the song “Summer of 69”, there is the line: “When I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever / And if I had the choice / I’d always be there / those were the best days of my
life”.
For my generation, the generation of the “Summer of 2000”, I'd like to say: The best of us is not behind us. We've only just begun. And by the way - Gen Z and Gen Alpha expect that from us
too.
So let us never forget what becomes possible when people come together. Today more than ever, it feels important to overcome fences and bend metal bars sometimes. It's not that difficult.
Bild: MJ