thoughts on a thursday: please ... don't keep calm

i am pretty sure pretty much everyone in the english speaking world (and beyond) has seen this print.

there are numerous variations such as 'keep calm and go shopping', 'keep calm and eat chocolate', 'keep calm and smile smile smile', 'keep calm and love jesus', 'keep calm and don't give a shit' - or my personal favourite 'keep calm and use the force'. 

i think these posters express pretty well the general sentiment of our generation. people generally keep calm.

we keep calm, ignore starvation and keep on wasting our resources.

we keep calm, ignore the climate change and keep on driving big cars.

we keep calm, ignore responsibility and just want to have fun.

however, i believe that by doing that we are denying essential human attributes: compassion, empathy, anger, hunger for change and the respect for our own life as well as the lives of others.

stephane hessel writes the following in his book indignez-vous (time for outrage):

The worst of attitudes is indifference, to say "I can do nothing there, I'l just manage to get by." By including yourself in that, you lose one of the essential elements that makes the human being: the faculty of indignation and the commitment that is a consequence of it. 

They [young people] can already identify two big new challenges: 

1. The huge gap which exists between the very poor and the very rich and that does not cease increasing. It is an innovation of the 20th and 21st centuries. The very poor in the today's world earn barely two dollars a day. The new generation cannot let this gap become even greater. The official reports alone should provoke a commitment. 

2. Human rights and the state of the planet.

he is right - it is time for outrage. -- so, get angry.

get angry about the injustices and absurdities of the world.

get angry about the fact that we can buy clothes that are produced in sweat shops.

get angry about the fact that we waste 4000 litres of water on one steak whilst children in parts of the world die because they don't have clean drinking water.

get angry about the oppression of women and disabled people.

get angry about racism.

get angry about the fact that our society values money over people.

so please, i urge you, do anything, but just don't keep calm. 

tuesday tunes

here we go with another edition of my favourite tunes. some chilled out acoustic worship. enjoy!





also, for more good music check out my summer playlist on 8tracks:




sun or rain, music makes everything better.
have a great day!

Hey there

i feel like i am starting a lot of posts with an apology for not posting anything for such a long time, but here we go again: excuse my lack of blogging please.

today i just quickly wanted to update you all a little bit on what is happening in my life.

i finished uni! next week i have my graduation ceremony and will then have a bachelor of arts in politics, philosophy and economics. who would have thought?!

the next year i will be working for my church and attending a leadership training course. i am very excited to dedicate a year to serve the people in my community, study god's word and to grow in my strengths and weaknesses.

in fact, i am so excited that i am not even sad about finishing uni.

i am very grateful for those last three years. i was able to study three subjects that i loved and learn so many new interesting things. what a privilege!
hopefully i will return to study some more in the future but for now i am ready for new things.

via verswand

this is not the sun setting, 

this is the world moving on.

happy monday friends.

summer tunes: the boom booms

sit in the sun, drink some cold beer and listen to this.
there's a high chance your day gets instantly better.
i think summer is coming.

okay? okay.

i am so so looking forward to see this movie.
i read the book three times and this beautiful, sad story didn't cease to bewitch me.

the fault in a stars is a book by john green and it tells the story of hazel grace lancaster,
who is a sixteen year old cancer survivor.
i think cancer is such a big issue in our society which affects so many people and john green does a great job by telling this story of a girl who has cancer, but also of a girl who falls in love, who likes to read, who gets annoyed at her parents - just a normal teenager.

i think when thinking about cancer, especially children with cancer, one can feel very overwhelmed and helpless.
i therefore want to share about what my friend siân is doing: she decided to chop off her beautiful long hair and donate it to the princess trust which makes wigs for young cancer sufferers and she is fundraising money for yorkshire cancer research. you can find out more and donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/Sianhair

to say it in john green's words: let's decrease world suck. and don't forget to be awesome.

tunes: judith holofernes

judith holofernes new album 'ein leichtes schwert' has been my holiday soundtrack these last three weeks. it is remarkable how this woman seems to always write songs that perfectly describe how i feel. i definitely recommend getting the cd. every single song is amazing.

words for home

one of the things i miss most about being in germany is speaking german. i have always been a lover of language and of german in particular, and whenever i am here to visit, when i am immersed in this beautiful language i find myself after a few days with my head full of words and verses and so i wrote this poem. for those of you who might not speak german: it is a poem about origins, about belonging and words and what they can change.

hope you all have a beautiful day!

i'm back

hey ho hello.
this has been quite a long blogging break, life was filled with writing essays and revising. i still have quite a lot of work to do until june but i missed blogging too much and the last couple of weeks have been full of ideas and things i would like to share here.

for now, i just leave you with some beautiful impressions from my easter vacation in germany:

hello and happy 2014

a little late but happy 2014 everyone! i hope the year started well for you and will hold many good things, inspirations and intellectual challenges.

2014 is going to be exciting for me - i will finish my bachelors degree, will start to work for my church and hopefully start doing a masters.

as all my creative energy flows into my dissertation at the moment i will just leave you with some of my latest inspiration:
a beautiful song (my friend simone and i may or may not have started our day of studying by learning it on the guitar...) and a quote from my favourite book the fault in our stars by john green.