I have stayed silent on social media for a couple month now.

I have stayed silent on social media for a couple month now. At first to escape the pull of likes, ego-feeding content, and perfect-world fantasies. Then I stayed silent because could not find the right words to address the horror and grief caused by the invasion of Ukraine. And how hypocritic our sorrow and rage must look to all those suffering in Yemen, Syria and other conflicts.

But today I break my silence. Like most of us in the western Europe, I thought that mass graves, missiles and war between nations were banned into the history books. That our interconnected history, culture, and economy would create a peaceful and stable world. The invasion of Ukraine has reminded us how fragile our peace, democracy and prosperity really are. How unstable our fossil fuel based world really is. I stand with all those suffering and dying under Putin’s regime, both in Ukraine and Russia. My words and donations are only a small drop into the fire, and I hope we can find a way out of the violence as fast as possible.

Today I am also thankful and proud for being part of Germany’s culture of remembrance and guilt. Every pupil in Germany visits a concentration camp at least once. We learn how feelings and logic and not asking questions can strip us of all humanity. How seeds of violence and suppression can be found almost everywhere on the political spectrum and that we need to let arguments die and not people. That the division of power, equality before the law, and ever slow bureaucracy of elections and democratic states are fragile but vital institutions.

Reading the news in big bold letters these days, I would like to remind us all, to always take a couple minutes to think and not fall into a pattern of escalation and retaliation. I am afraid there will be no easy and just way out of this conflict, that harder lines will be drawn and crossed. So let us take a moment to remind ourselves of our shared humanity, that we are all just ants on a tiny rock in space. Lets reach out to each other, no matter which nation or political camp we sit in and use this dramatic moment to plant the seeds of a more peaceful and sustainable civilization.

Never again!

Photo by NASA