Dresden 2015

The refugee crisis here in Germany has forced me to get involved in people's lives, who I normally would not have even met.  The enormity of their needs is unimaginable.  Basic, social, medical, entertainment, education......the list could go on.  Once involved in one person's life, getting involved in another's life is unavoidable.  My heart bleeds for those who have lost everything, some have even lost children to the war in Syria.  The fact that there are so many idiots here in Germany who want to stop the flow of refugees into the country amazes me.  The two world wars that Germany began have taught the people absolutely nothing about human rights and the value of life in general.  My sincere hope is that the government will remain more intelligent than the general population, continue to keep its doors open and help as many people as possible.
When the camp on Bremerstraße opened and Dresden für Alle was the first there to help get the refugees food, clothing and other basic needs I was also there.  When they left and the Red Cross took over I stayed to help and stayed as long as possible.  Now that I have stepped out of the forefront and am doing what I set out to do in February when PEGIDA had been turning the streets of Dresden into a horrible nightmare of hate, violence and bombings for over 4 months it's still difficult for me to understand the motivation of people here to carry out such acts of violence.  2015 is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the city by allied forces, the end of World War II and the  25th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin wall. It seems that the people would learn to be a little more tolerant within this timeframe; however, that's not the case.  In their minds there is only fear of the unknown, hatred of all foreigners and the knowledge that they are the superior race on the planet.  No one here questions these things.  This is where our problems here in Dresden begin.  My work will continue, despite the fear and animosity which exist here.  #RefugeesWelcome

Pegida in Dresden

As an American who has lived in Dresden for over 6 years, I'm shocked at the rate Pegida has grown and the lengths that their puppeteer Lutz Bachmann will go to, to start trouble here.  A convicted criminal himself is preaching that refugees from Syria are harmful to the German people and their way of life.  How can he say this, when he is a criminal himself?  Are they more harmful than he is?

Yesterday morning a young black refugee was murdered and the police in Dresden, although the young man had stab wounds on his chest and neck, are slow to call it a murder.  My personal opinion is that most of the police are at least Pegida sympathizers.

Dresden is no stranger to upheaval.  Every year on February 13th, the Nazis march through the streets of Dresden and in some past years have caused riots.  They say that the Allied Forces falsely bombed Dresden in 1945 and 'murdered' thousands of innocent people.  Were they not the one's who started the war? Or murdered thousands of innocent Jews?

I'm so angry about all of the hatred that is part of Dresden and although I wouldn't exactly call it my life's mission, I will say it's my goal to help at least calm the tide of hatred that is an ingrained part of this beautiful city.

A New Chapter in Dresden

I took part in MIT's ULab at the beginning of this year and it was really an awesome experience for me.  Please don't equate awesome with easy, it wasn't easy and took a tremendous amount of time and energy.  However, it was really life changing in that it forced me to take a closer look at my personal and business relationships and think critically about how I could improve them by improving myself. Turning the mirror in my direction and taking a look inside was not at all easy, but the result was well worth the effort.  I began to think about how 'I' was always thinking about how what people were telling me related to me specifically and, if I were honest with myself, how I didn't really listen to what they were saying most of the time.  The ULab changed all of that.  At the end of the course I had truly transformed myself into a deep listener and not only did I listen to the words people said, but the deeper meaning in them, not to mention that I learned to listen to myself in the process.  As the ULab 2.0 gears up for a new start on September 10, 2015, so do I.  As an entrepreneur, Buddhist, and human being who wants to improve not only my life, but the lives of others, I am so excited to start learning something that will help me realize the goal of integrating refugees into Dresden life and culture and helping Dresdeners open their eyes, minds and hearts to welcome and learn from the foreigners who will call Dresden home.